Jōnin Level Power
by gnomishness
Summary: With the ease Naruto characters gain power, shouldn't the Jōnin or MASTER level NINJA be stronger? Shouldn't the Chūnin be stronger as well? A redo of most of the fighting in Naruto with different power levels. T for violence and to be safe. no pairings (this story). I'll be updating every week. Please review so I can know that people like it. :) AU
1. Mizuki vs Iruka (and naruto)

After many hours of contemplation, I realized that my favorite thing about Naruto is his journey from Academy student loser to leaf village super elite and the people he works with to get there. Believe it or not, I like it best when someone from the main cast is saved by a Jōnin or something and we can reanticipate Naruto's limits.

Also, quite frankly, I think that the ease in which Naruto characters gain power doesn't match up to the strength of the Jōnin or _master ninja._

This is an Alterate Universe that gives everybody past 20 a major power up. I would not only encourage but be honored if my depiction would be used in other fics (ones where your alternate universe Naruto is ridiculously Broken maybe) please comment on it if you've taken any inspiration from me.

* * *

With hardly any preparation Mizuki's giant shuriken was practically humming with **wind-chakra**, blades ending several deadly inches past the actual shuriken spikes. "Die!" Mizuki yelled as he threw his **chakra-coated** shuriken at Naruto who could only stare at the horrifically deadly projectile whizzing toward him.

Iruka reacted _fast_. Before Naruto even knew what happened, he on the ground with Iruka on his hands and knees above him. They were both covered by a hastily made, low quality **mud wall**. Naruto observed in his stupor that the mud wall had only sort-of blocked the shuriken; several **wind-blade** spikes had gotten threw and were piercing shallow cuts into Irukas back.

Iruka was bleeding.

"W-Why…?" Naruto stammered out as he saw his mean and hateful teacher protecting him and bleeding for him.

"Because you and I are the same." Iruka said, blood dripping from his mouth. "After my parents died, nobody paid attention to me or gave me any support. I wasn't a good student in school. I was the class clown… because I wanted people to notice me.

"I couldn't get noticed through excellence, so I kept doing stupid things. It was so hard… Isn't that right, Naruto? You felt so lonely… right? And you suffered inside, right?" At this point, Iruka was crying. "I'm so sorry Naruto… If I had been more responsible, maybe you wouldn't have suffered so much…"

Up on the treetops Mizuki was snickering. "Don't make me laugh!" he yelled down at the Chūnin and his student. "Iruka has always hated you, ever since you killed his parents! He's just saying all that to get the scroll of sealing back!"

And with that Naruto ran, like he had from leaf Genin every day. With an escape speed rarely seen in a Academy Graduate, he went full tilt into the tree line, Iruka yelling after him, "Run Narutooo...!"

Before Mizuki could draw his second giant shuriken and go after the fleeing academy student, Iruka intercepted him with a kunai knife and they engaged in a high speed taijutsu fight worthy of their title as Chūnin. To untrained eyes, Mizuki and Iruka were little more than blurs, clashing kunai at least twice per second via highly trained ninja speed.

Iruka lasted a good thirty seconds, an eternity in a ninja fight, before he was forced to **substitute** away from a particularly well-placed swing. Mizuki, instead of following, went after Naruto's already faint trail, judging the scroll of sealing to be the highest priority. Even if he was discovered to be the culprit, Mizuki needed the scroll of sealing to properly join the sound village. Orochimaru was known to be cruel.

...

Iruka was always a good tracker and through liberal use of the **Shunshin**, he managed to find Naruto several seconds before Mizuki. As the blond academy-student was spotted, Iruka quickly set several **barrier tags** on trees in a square formation and quickly spread some thin ninja wire throughout the surrounding clearing. After quickly **henging** into the blond, Iruka managed to do a **replacement jutsu** with Naruto just before Mizuki came into sight, **henged** as Iruka himself.

"Naruto," The henged Mizuki yelled as they ran into Iruka's prearranged trap, "Everything that Mizuki said was a lie! Give me that scroll quick! Mizuki is after the scroll!"

With Chunin level speed, the henged Iruka turned on a dime and delivered a surprise punch right into the henged Mizuki's gut. Iruka's henge was hiding the kunai he'd just stabbed Mizuki with as the Iruka disguised Mizuki fell right between Iruka's prearranged **barrier tags**.

"It can't be…" the false Iruka started as its henge slowly came undone. "Why is it, Naruto? How… did you know I wasn't Iruka?" The now revealed Mizuki said to the world.

The henged Iruka was leaning up against a tree, happy that his mission was essentially complete. He was almost out of chakra. All he had to do now was activate the barrier. He released his henge showing his bleeding body to the world. "Because I'm Iruka." He said as he did the necessary handseal to activate **the trapping barrier**.

"I see…" Mizuki said as he slowly stood up, barrier appearing around him. But something was wrong… Mizuki was smiling. In a second, Iruka pushed off from his resting place, just in time to avoid several **wind laced** shuriken.

Mizuki came out of the trees and into the clearing. Casually dispelling the **earth clone** trapped inside Iruka's barrior. Iruka was truly baffled. 'A earth clone… When did he **replace** with an earth clone?'

"So…" Mizuki said, to the now hopeless Iruka, "What's in it for you to protect the one who killed your family?"

"I'm not going to let a stupid idiot like you get that scroll!" Iruka exclaimed in response. He still had a little chakra and Mizuki was very smugly standing on Iruka's ninja-wire trap. He might not be able to hold Mizuki for more than a few seconds, but…

Unknown to the two of them, Naruto was currently hiding behind a tree and listening in on their conversation, trying like hell to mask the scent of fear dripping off of him. Not for himself… somewhere deep in Naruto's psyche, Naruto knew he wouldn't be truly killed by anything short of Kage level power.

Naruto was terrified of Mizuki killing the first person to have ever even started acknowledging him.

The only reason Naruto hadn't already tried and save Iruka was the instruction Iruka had given him to run. If Iruka found out he'd actually stayed… would Iruka take away what little acknowledgment he had of Naruto? Naruto was almost in tears at the whole ordeal.

"You're the idiot" Mizuki rebuked, "Naruto is the same as me."

"Same?"

"Anyone can do whatever they want once they have the scroll. There is no way that that monster… That _Fox Spirit_, won't take advantage of the power of that scroll!"

"You're right," Iruka admitted sadly.

Naruto froze as he felt what little acknowledgment he'd received float out the window. 'I guess it was true all along!' he thought helplessly, time seeming to slow in his panic. 'Iruka never really cared for me at all…' the voice of his subconscious seemed to grow deeper and eviler as the speech went on. 'Admit it! The only thing this village will ever acknowledge you as is a Demon Fox! Gain that acknowledgment!'

Dark red super-potent chakra dripped into Naruto's system as hatred slowly started to overtake the small boy… and then suddenly stopped.

"… _If_ he was the Demon Fox Spirit." Iruka finished, twitching as he got to his knees. "But Naruto is different! I know he is an exceptional student. He works very hard; he's single-minded and clumsy at the same time. No one accepts him, but he knows the meaning of human suffering. He's not the Demon Fox Spirit. He's Naruto Uzumaki of the Village Hidden in the Leaves!"

Naruto was in helpless tears at the statement. Iruka had not only trusted, but fully acknowledged Naruto as human! His subconscious quickly made up its mind for better or worse. No matter what, even if he was dying, he would never fully give in to the Nine Tailed Fox. For no reason other than the principle of it, Naruto would forsake both the unlimited power and the practical immortality given to him by his father, The Fourth Hokage's **seal**. From now on he'd just be a regular boy, like Iruka thought of him.

'Well, maybe a little more than regular for now,' Naruto's subconscious thought as Mizuki was taking out his second giant shuriken.

"You are so gullible. Iruka!" Mizuki said, giant shuriken in hand. "I was going to take you down later, but I have changed my mind."

Die!" Mizuki yelled adding globs of **wind-chakra** to his now spinning shuriken. No half-assed **mud wall** would block this, but just to be sure, Mizuki surged forward, intent on just stabbing Iruka with the shuriken instead of throwing it. This move made Mizuki almost pathetically unaware of his sides…

And just like that, Naruto dived at full, still fox empowered, strength into the side of Mizuki's head causing the Chūnin to fly rather hilariously to the ground. To Mizuki's credit, despite the awkward fall, he didn't drop or stab himself with his **chakra coated** shuriken. He managed to land on his feet. In fact, as Iruka thought back at it in the future, Mizuki probably allowed Naruto to hit him just to boost Naruto's confidence and stop him from running away mid fight.

"You surprised me there, freak" Mizuki admitted, faking pain.

"If you ever lay a hand on Iruka Sensei, I'll kill you!" Naruto responded simply and angrily.

"Shut up! I can take care of a kid like you with a single blow!" Mizuki said almost giggling at how easy it was to rile Naruto up.

"Why don't you try then? I'll strike you back a thousand-fold!" Naruto said making a weird hand sign.

Mizuki felt almost disappointed. Naruto wasn't gonna charge right as him cloaked in tailed beast chakra and was instead going to try a Jutsu, likely from the forbidden scroll. Of course, Mizuki wasn't worried. With so little time to train it, a powerful move like the ones in the scroll would either fail to activate, be ridiculously under-powered, or kill the user on the spot. Honestly, Mizuki had higher hopes for his battle with the demon. 'Oh well' Mizuki thought sadly, 'It'll still be nice to see a look of hopelessness on the demon's face.'

"Let's see you try! Show me what you can do, Demon Fox!" Mizuki yelled out loud and prepared to jump out of the way in case the Jutsu did activate by some twist of fate.

I suppose we shouldn't overlook just how lucky Naruto is. The only real issue with **The Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu** was the unreasonable chakra cost. Almost half of the techniques in the scroll of sealing required ridiculous chakra control and the other half required a living sacrifice: you, if no alternative was found. Not only that, but with so much practice trying (and failing) to create a basic clone Jutsu, Naruto's chakra was practically attuned to clone-making. At that moment, while pumped up on Kyūbi chakra, The Multi Shadow Clone was the absolute perfect Jutsu.

'Naruto! You've…' Iruka thought from behind a wall of clearly solid clones, '**The Shadow Clone** is a Chūnin level Jutsu… But even a Jōnin would be pressed to make this many clones. Naruto, how did you… Nevermind… now is clearly the best moment'

Mizuki was grinning like a madman. _This_ wasn't going to be a disappointment. By Mizuki's estimate there were over one hundred and twenty Narutos in the crowd. An individual Naruto's strength was only slightly better than a trained civilian, yet to face so many, and with only half his Chakra; it was going just short of a challenge to deal with all of them. 'The perfect way to test out my strength' Mizuki thought.

'First, I need to get out of this circle' Mizuki thought, 'by throwing my **wind-laced** shuriken that way…' he froze realizing something, excitement replaced by panic.

He couldn't move.

Looking down, Mizuki gasped in horror at the ninja wire he'd been standing on. Iruka was using **the chakra wire trap technique**; Iruka was channeling chakra through the ninja wire on the ground and paralyzing him from the waist down. It was done very professionally too. Ninja-wire wasn't the greatest Chakra conductor yet Mizuki honestly couldn't move even one of his legs an inch.

Now that he couldn't move, how did he stop the one hundred and twenty something Narutos jumping at him from beating him to a pulp?

…

To Mizuki's credit, he still got more than half of them. Not only was he a natural with shuriken (most of which he'd already thrown), but he had almost untraceable speed (that he couldn't really use) flawless Taijutsu (made for one-on-one fights) and a REALLY mean **Fireball** (only had enough chakra for two of these sadly).

Despite the processes, fifteen minutes later a decidingly singed looking Naruto was standing above a bloody, twitching Mizuki. Iruka almost laughed at the ridiculousness of the sight. In a way, Naruto had beaten a Chūnin level ninja even though he hadn't passed the graduation exam. To do so, he'd used a Chūnin level technique with Jōnin level skill; a technique similar to the one that caused him to fail his exam.

Iruka wasn't heartless. Naruto got the headband.

Besides, if Naruto was that bad, his Jōnin wouldn't pass him anyway...


	2. Team 7

I figured I should explain why Kakashi passed his team in the first place. And I don't own Naruto. I hope that makes up for last chapter.

* * *

Kakashi looked at the three Genin in front of him with a tired, disappointed stare. Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Harano. Kakashi had once fostered high hopes for this team; who wouldn't? One of them was the last living Uchiha, one of them had the highest recorded chakra control scores in the last ten years and the last one was not only a Jinchiruki but also the son of his late sensei, the exulted fourth Hokage.

Yet they'd just finished his bell test and Kakashi could honestly say that they'd all had done horribly.

First, Naruto: He was stupid, plain and simple. At first Kakashi had thought there was an incredibly complex plan to him facing a Jonin out in the open. His senses had quickly alerted him, though, that there wasn't any traps set up in a five mile vicinity. The next logical conclusion was that he'd fire a Jutsu that needed a lot of space. Naruto didn't. Instead, he engaged a Jonin, one on one in Taijutsu even though had roughly the strength of a trained civilian. What Kakashi couldn't understand is how the son of the yellow flash could be so painfully slow.

When Naruto finally did reveal the **Shadow Clone Jutsu**, Kakashi had to admit he was a little impressed. The ability for an academy graduate to make eight solid clones was impressive. And though using them out in the open was cringe-worthy, he at least had the foresight to make one approach from the back. Thinking that his new Genin was finally taking it seriously, Kakashi had quickly substituted away, only to find that with his absence, the eight Narutos had started beating each other up out of suspicion.

The real nail on the coffin had been Naruto falling for his amateur trap, not once, but twice in a short succession. If Kakashi hadn't believed in idiots before, he sure did now. Maybe Naruto could improve with time, but he sure as hell wasn't ready yet. Perhaps with another one, scratch that, two years at the academy for basic tactics. Honestly, Kakashi didn't know how he passed the graduation test.

Next, the girl: Plain and simple, Sakura was weak. From the first moment he sensed her, Kakashi realized with horror that she had less than a third of the chakra considered average for a common human being. That was crippling for a Shinobi. Next to that, amazing chakra control was hardly more than a crutch.

Not only did Sakura have hardly any chakra to speak of, but she was incredibly weak of mind. If she had any motivation to be a ninja at all, it was incredibly weak and indirect. Even if she had plenty of potential, with a mindset like that Kakashi would honestly be surprised if she made it to Chunin. He was tempted to just fail her as an example.

Finally there was Sasuke: Admittedly, he had the skills needed to pass. The **Fireball** **Jutsu **was usually regarded as a Chūnin level skill after all (though Sasuke's was a bit small). The kunai trap Sasuke did was also pretty good, though woefully ineffective. His speed wasn't bad either. All in all, Kakashi would already put Sasuke solidly on the Genin level of fighting skill, though it was clear he should still improve. It was a little disappointing to think that Sasuke was the best his year had to offer (in the world of prodigies, he was fairly pathetic) but Kakashi supposed relative weakness was to be expected from a peacetime.

The real problem was Sasuke's attitude: He had a superiority complex. A superiority complex was always a bad thing for Shinobi no matter how powerful you were. In the ninja world, things never came down exclusively to talent or even power. Even Naruto could win against the Hokage if he had enough luck. Thing was though, Sasuke didn't even have the skills to warrant a superiority complex. Being better than a couple low quality academy students doesn't make one Madara Uchiha.

Besides that, he held _way_ too much hatred in his heart. Sure a bit of loathing was an integral part of any ninja's motivation, but Sasuke's motivation at this point was practically poisoned with the stuff. Anymore and Sasuke might even sacrifice his life just to kill his brother.

But the real reason they failed wasn't because of any one of them. Fact was, they refused to form a group even though that was the whole point of the exercise. Of course, no single Genin could ever hope to steal a bell from a Jōnin, much less a special Jōnin like himself. The idea was, he'd hold back to the point where they _might_ stand a chance if they teamed up and became a cohesive unit. This team didn't, not even nearly, and that was obvious grounds to fail them, to hell with the blood-debts.

'I should fail them. I really should.' Kakashi thought. 'Honestly they should quit being ninja.'

As Kakashi eyed them, Naruto's stomach growled. The poor Genin had sagged, helplessly tied to the post. He looked pathetic.

"Oh-oh, your stomachs are growling…" Kakashi started, voice dripping with fake sympathy. "By the way, about this exercise… Well! There's no need for you guys to go back to the academy."

The smile on Naruto's face caused pain in Kakashi's chest. He shouldn't have been sarcastic.

"Then, then! That means the three of us…" Naruto started, breaking Kakashi's heart.

"Yes. The three of you…" Kakashi started, hiding his grimace behind an eye smile. "_…Must quit being ninja!_"

Silence…

"Quit being ninja?! What do you mean!?" Naruto said, pupils shrinking, clearly scared out of his wits. "Uh, well it's true, we weren't able to take the bells. But why do we have to be told to 'quit'?!"

At this point, Sakara looked ready to burst into tears and Sasuke looked ready to stab him. This was not going to be fun.

"That's because you're all squirts who don't have the qualifications to become ninja." Kakashi said honestly.

And like that, Sasuke was racing toward him at a high speed, kunai out. Well, a high speed for a Genin.

"I'm saying you're squirts." Kakashi said, sitting on top of Sasuke while casually holding him in a full nelson. "Are you kids thinking that being a Ninja is easy? Huh?" Kakashi said, becoming serious. Naruto and Sakura gasped as killing intent started leaking into the air.

"Why do you think you're doing this exercise in teams?" Kakashi continued, "Put simply… it's as if you guys have no understanding to the answer of this test. The answer that determines passing or failing."

Ok. He was laying it on a little thick, but this really needed to stick with them; Particularly Sasuke.

"That's… what I've wanted to ask you for a while now." Sakura said sheepishly. At least one of them realized something was wrong. If Sasuke wasn't so emo and Naruto wasn't so stupid they might have passed.

"Man, are you guys brainless or what?" Kakashi said, channeling his earlier disbelief at their stupidity. "Don't you get the meaning of the three-man squad?!... That's…teamwork!"

"…You mean, working together?" Sakura said, tone showing the possibility hadn't even occurred to her.

"Exactly. But it's too late even if you realize that now." Kakashi explained seriously. "You might've been able to take the bells if the three of you had come at me… but… Well, it's too bad."

There was the point though… that none of these brats had parents or anything similar as an example of ninja life and just how strong a ninja is expected to be. Most graduates knew that their parents had been in three man teams. What did these three know? The teams faults, though numerous, were all potentially fixable or avoidable. If he managed to bring Sasuke down from his high shelf and show Naruto and Sakura what was expected of them… well… they'd probably end up a functional unit.

'I might just be making excuses for them.' Kakashi admitted. 'They failed in almost every single way… they're not suited to become ninja… but could I live with myself after turning this team down?'

One more chance' Kakashi decided, eyeing Naruto. 'But first, I'll need to subtly highlight their problems.'

"If we were expected to function as a team, why did you only have two bells?" Sakura finally started. "Even If we'd worked together, one of us still would have had to go without lunch. You're preaching teamwork, but you played us against each other!"

'So, Sakura first?' "Of course! This is a test set up to purposely place you against each other. It's under just such conditions where one's own interests aren't the issue. The intention was to select those who could prioritize teamwork…

"Despite this, you fools…

"Sakura: You ignored Naruto who was right in front of you while you focused on Sasuke who you couldn't find… Naruto: All you did is run in solo like an idiot… And Sasuke: You labeled the other two as hindrances and acted on your own… Yes, it's important for ninja to have individual skill but even more important is teamwork! Individual actions disrupt teamwork and throw your comrades in unnecessary danger. Here's an example…"

Kakashi quickly took out a kunai knife and aimed at Sasuke who was still lying, pinned under him.

"Sakura! Kill Naruto or Sasuke dies!" After a couple strangled cries of "WHAT!", Kakashi re-holstered the knife and admitted to himself, 'Sakura seems like she finally realizes how serious this is going to be. Next, time to disillusion Naruto.'

"The day will come, when this will happen." Kakashi continued, "When you're on a Mission, your lives will always be on the line. Look at the marker… All the names carved in the stone are heroes of our village: ninja."

"That's it!" Naruto said with a big grin of his face as he observed the ultimate source of recognition, "I've decided to get my name engraved there, too! As a hero! A hero! I'm not going to die like a dog!"

"But they did…" Kakashi said softly.

"hm?"

"This is a memorial for ninja who died on the line of duty… like dogs. All of my friends are there…"

Naruto immediately quieted down in sympathy for the white haired Special Jōnin. 'What if Iruka's name was on there.' Naruto contemplated, 'How would I feel?'

'That finally shut Naruto up.' Kakashi thought, 'Now, I just need to reinforce the idea of teamwork and engrave it permanently in Sasuke's mind. With this, I'll give them another chance to pass, only one. It'll be hard enough to shape this team into something decent anyway.'

"I'll give you guys one more chance!" Kakashi explained to the teary eyed Genin, "It'll be a lot more difficult than our little game with the bells. Those who want to take the challenge can eat lunch. However, don't let Naruto have any. He brought it on himself when he tried to eat lunch on his own. If somebody lets him eat, that person will be disqualified on the spot… _I_ make the rules here. Got it?"

As Kakashi walked away, he grimaced under his mask at the words he had just said. It had to be done though. For them to make the epiphany, a villain was required. Once Kakashi was sure his Genin thought he was gone, he stealthed back and waited casually behind a nearby tree under the **Hiding with Camouflage Jutsu**.

The scene played out perfectly. Both Sasuke and Sakura offered Naruto their food while Naruto reluctantly accepted under the vague hope he'd be more use with a full stomach. They even looked about ready to talk strategy.

'If nothing else, they're more sensible than I was at they're age' Kakashi reminisced sadly. 'They might not end up the strongest team but If they don't make the same mistakes I did, it will be worth it. Well… better make a show out of passing them.'

Because godlike, master, copycat ninja can have a sense of humor to.

* * *

Changes from canon so far:

Kakashi is a Special Jōnin. Part of the village super-elite. There may be about a hundred individual Leaf Jōnin but there are only a handful of Special Jōnin all only a step below kage.

Kakashi knows the **Hiding with Camouflage Jutsu**. He claims to know over a thousand Jutsu so shouldn't some of them be useful?

I'm using Chūnin exam Kiba as a reference of an average (maybe slightly less than average), Genin level ninja. At this moment, Kakashi imagines Sasuke to be only slightly below that when 100%.

Naruto is more empathetic than canon. Since the back of his mind insists that nothing is going to kill him short of Kage level power, the only pain and fear he can really feel is through empathy, so he latches on to that.

Team 7 are starting at the lowest tier of Genin teams. XD

Canon makes them seem like they average Chūnin level from the get go. This time they'll have to work for it.


	3. Team 7 vs Demon Brothers

I had this chapter in mind when I originally imagined this story. Everybody knows of how pathetic Gozu and Meizu, two Chunin level ninja seemed in canon. I hope my portrayal of them does them justice. I don't own Naruto.

* * *

From the moment Tazuna walked into the Hokage's office, Kakashi could tell he'd lied about the mission parameters. That what Tazuna was asking for wasn't a simple C rank escort mission and was likely a B-rank protection from ninja. It wasn't easy to fool Shinobi, and Kakashi had trained extensively in face reading, along with pretty much everything else. A quick glance to the side showed that the Hokage knew as well. If Tazuna's plan had already been found out, why was the Hokage offering them the mission?

Then again, the Hokage was known for his empathy. The Hokage probably knew the superiority complexes, motivational lacks and illusions of grandeur his team regularly went through and the best cure for all of these symptoms was a dive into the world of powerful ninja. Since Kakashi would be there, the team would be almost perfectly safe. And, once they all came out of the experience unharmed save a scar or two, they'd throw themselves into their training under the hopes they'd do better next time, if they had to go on a mission like that again.

'It's still a good plan,' Kakashi thought to himself as he guarded Tazuna with his brats, glancing nervously at the tree line. 'Though there are two of them, the signatures don't look to be more than high Genin level.'

The problem was how far away they'd been trailing the group and how well they could hide their Chakra. Kakashi valued himself as the seventh best tracker in the village, ahead of even the Hokage and several of the Inuzuka Jōnin. Long range sensing had always been his strongest suit and was one of the principal reasons he'd been picked as a Jōnin at such a young age. Yet even he, with all his renown in the area, might have missed the presence of the demon brothers if he hadn't been actively looking for it.

It would probably be best to pretend he didn't sense them for now and wait till they revealed their location.

The Land of Waves bordered the Land of Fire off the east coast in the sea. The trip from the Village Hidden in the Leafs to this modest Island usually took about a day and a half for trained ninja, two days for a horse and four days by foot for an average civilian.

It was about noon in the second day when Team 7's pursuers made their move. First, they disguised themselves as part of the environment. Kakashi felt like complimenting them in it. It was clear that it hadn't rained in several days, so the two mist ninja couldn't do the standard **Hiding in the Water Jutsu **without looking extremely suspicious.

Instead, they'd **True-Henged** into a couple particularly unobtrusive ferns.

It was masterfully done. You could tell they'd rubbed themselves with the plant for hours beforehand to get the smell just right. The dirt curved in just the right slope around the plants as to suggest the appropriate roots underground. They even layered an extremely delicate** False Chakra Genjutsu** over the whole thing. Kakashi had to admit, half the Jonin he knew would have no idea those ferns were ninja unless you pointed it out to them.

Kakashi passed the ferns with mild apprehension keeping his senses directed behind him.

Sure enough, two ninja were slowly emerging from their illusion plants (still solid after they'd left them. That took some real skill) under the cover of a rather amateur **Hiding with Camouflage Jutsu**. Any reasonable Jonin would have seen them if they bothered to look back: If they'd _bothered_. Kakashi thankfully didn't have to look back. He could just track the faint smell of fern with his nose. They appeared to slowly move into some sort of formation… then…

Kakashi blinked from his perch on a tree, twenty meters away. 'Had they just **Shunshin'd**?' One millisecond they been in this weird position behind him, another and they had a chain rapped around him multiple times, a third and he'd been falling to the ground as several bloody bits of torn flesh or, in actuality, torn wood of a branch he'd only just managed to substitute with.

That move had the potential to kill a Jōnin before they'd even realize what was happening.

These Guys were GOOD.

Kakashi's Genin were in danger.

The two mist ninja dropped their illusions and said, in terrifying voices, "One down." As the log debris finally fell to the dirt.

Naruto's world shattered. He had five friends to rely on. First and second, Sasuke and Sakura, were still children and hardly older than Naruto himself so he naturally placed little faith in their ability to protect themselves. The third, Iruka, had already proven his weakness. The fourth, the Hokage, was an old man who'd probably die in a few years anyway. The fifth though, Kakashi, was really the one he expected to prove himself to in the end… and now he was dead… just like that… no amount of Kyūbi power could save him…

Thus, Naruto froze from shock.

Of the three remaining ninja, Sasuke had the best defensive reactions; thus, he was labeled as the biggest threat. The demon brothers ran toward him, intent on ripping him to shreds before he could make a move. They were moving past each other as they tried to enter their weird position again.

Only… they were moving at low Genin level speed.

Kakashi sweat-dropped from his position hidden in the tree. 'So they're one trick ponies… they have one good **Shunshin-formation-attack** that they must have practiced about a hundred-thousand times till it was potent enough to kill even Jōnin, but they've neglected everything else to the point that their natural movement speed is only that of a low Genin. But this is good. With that base speed, I can intervene at any time to stop them if they try that move again or put my Genin in any real danger. This might just be the perfect fight to dip my Genin's toes in.'

Whether by luck or design, when Sasuke saw the two demon brothers entering a weird potion in front of him, his first instinct was to jump back and throw several shuriken at their chain with his impeccable aim.

Of course, the demon brothers effortlessly maneuvered their chain to dodge the shuriken, but that had bought Sasuke enough time to get out of range and Sakura enough time to recover her senses and quickly position herself in front of Sasuke, kunai out.

Figuring the time for the chain had long passed, the younger demon brother, Gozu, unhooked his gantlet and flew toward the still frozen Naruto. Gozu was hoping for (but not relying on) a cheap shot on the little blond Genin, before he recovered from his sensei's death.

The older brother Meizu used a **B****asic Puppetry Technique** to manipulate the chain as a particularly spikey and deadly whip which he swung at Sakura. Even with her muscles reinforced by a **Light Shunshin Technique**, Sakura could only move her uncovered arms as the huge spikey chain flew into her, ripping cloth and flesh. It would have been a lot worse if not for the chainmail Kakashi had forced Sakura to wear for the mission. Yet even with the high quality chainmail, Meizu's chain ripped through to Sakura's skin, leaving several nonlethal yet incredibly painful wounds on her Torso.

And, perhaps more importantly, the move had flung Sakura several meters to the side to revealing Meizu's real target, Sasuke.

Oh… and without even looking, before Sakura even had time to hit the ground, Meizu had thrown a poison gas bomb after her. Even if she could land on her feet, (And she wouldn't. Kakashi could tell) Sakura still wouldn't have had enough time to escape the poison cloud. Meizu wasn't leaving any openings.

Kakashi sighed as he dived into the smoke bomb to rescue his pink-haired student. At least she didn't freeze up like _another_ Genin he knew.

Naruto had only just recovered from his sensei's death when the younger demon brother, Gozu, swerved towards him, swinging, thrusting his gauntlet at the blond haired boy. The Jinchiruki had made up his mind to avenge his Sensei no matter what the cost. Naruto, now filled to the brim with determination, faced his adversary as he wizzed toward the small blond ninja.

Gozu's gauntlet went through Naruto's coat, the chainmail beneath Naruto's coat, Naruto's undershirt, Naruto's skin, Naruto's flesh, Naruto's rib... Gozu's gauntlet finally stopped a couple inches into Naruto's lung before Gozu even realized that he'd actually hit his opponent.

Gozu was aware of how pathetic his speed was. His taijutsu style (when he used it) was little more than a series of broad, hard-to-dodge swings starting with a thrust. The idea was, when faced with a slow moving gantlet thrust, a ninja would almost always end up dodging into the perfect position for the rest of Gozu's relentless assault. Naruto was _actually_ too slow to avoid the first thrust.

The unique nature of his body's position and Gozu's visible shock of having actually hit the blond boy, gave Naruto a rare chance to catch him. With all his speed and strength, Naruto grabbed and latched onto Gozu's arm, intentionally pulling the poison-lined gauntlet even deeper into his lung. He would _not_ let go of someone who had just killed his teacher!

And to Naruto's credit, it took Gozu a good two seconds to shake the much younger and weaker ninja off his arm... than another five seconds searching for the real Naruto since _clearly_ he'd only stabbed an **Earth Clone**. Two seconds to realize that there wasn't a clone and he had _genuinely_ killed someone with his opening taijutsu faint and another three seconds looking at the short blond boy in pity before lunging toward Tazuna.

It was at this time that Tazuna finally realized that they were being attacked...*

While Sakura was being swatted away by Meizu's whip, Sasuke had rushed through the hand seals for the **Fire-ball Jutsu** so that he could scorch the bastard who'd just killed his sensei. He wasn't going to let anyone ever kill his loved ones again!

The fire-ball was a little small due to being rushed and Meizu didn't even have to **Shunshin** to dodge... And Meizu almost always needed **Shunshin** to dodge. What Meizu was facing was a Genin that even he could dodge. Was this their first mission out of the village? Konoha really was weak if they sent such pathetic wimps on a mission.

Sasuke managed to predict Meizu dodging the **Fireball** and had thrown some kunai were he dodged to. Yet even if he only spotted them from a meter away, it was child's-play for Meizu to block unenhanced kunai.

Surging up to Sasuke, Meizu started the opening stab of his taijutsu style, which Sasuke had only barely avoided by pushing back with a **Chakra enhanced jump**. Whether he knew it or not, Sasuke had just did the best possible defensive counter to Meizu's style. Meizu position for his opening taijutsu meant he couldn't even intercept Sasuke in mid air.

Mistaking luck for knowledge on his fighting style, Meizu quickly abandoned anything recognizable and just went at Sasuke in a spray of stabs, trusting his superior speed to finish Sasuke off.

Sasuke was fighting for his life and as fast as he was, there was no way he could keep up with this guy. He wasn't so much fighting as he was backing away and deflecting Meizu's gauntlet with a kunai. Through what felt like extreme luck, he hadn't _actually_ been cut yet.

'Is this the power of a Jōnin?' Sasuke questioned to himself. "If Itachi's this strong, how can I ever defeat him? I underestimated the world... It looks like I'm not ready for my revenge, not even close. Maybe I am just a squirt. Maybe I'm not cut out for revenge... I need to see... to see... to _SEE_!'

And suddenly, everything was slightly clearer. Suddenly, following Meizu's movements became easier: possible even. Sasuke had finally awakened his **Sharingan**! Sasuke stopped backing away, intent on finally doing a counterattack...

Only to get skewered directly through the heart by one of Meizu's stabs, going so quick that Sasuke's new **Sharingan** didn't even notice it until it was too late.

But suddenly Sasuke was in the safety of the trees and Meizu was pulling his arm out of a pierced log that Sasuke had apparently substituted with. 'How did that happen?' Sasuke thought, 'Did my **Sharingan** make me automatically **substitute**?'

Judging his imminent survival more important than technicalities, Sasuke used the time granted to him by his sudden **Substitution** to pull out his Demon Wind shuriken. He had trained with this weapon a lot. Sasuke considered it one of his aces, along with his **Fireball**. He was going to try manipulating it mid-flight with wires. The target was moving too fast for Sasuke's **Shadow Shuriken Technique** to be of any use, so he was going to try a **Manipulated Shuriken Technique**.

Sasuke was never the best at the **Manipulated Shuriken Technique** but, Sasuke figured that with hid **Sharingan** activated, he might be able to use it effectively.

Sasuke threw his wired shuriken at Meizu and kept it on direct path via wires when Meizu moved to the side. But when the shuriken got to Meizu, the demon brother managed to duck it, point-blank, and sever the string with his gauntlet as he came up, before Sasuke could react and pull it back.

'Has he been toying with me the entire time?' Sasuke suddenly questioned, as he observed Meizu zipping up to him, intent on piercing him like the log he'd earlier **substituted** with. 'How am I supposed to combat this?'

Kakashi chose that moment to officially step in. He'd **substituted** Sasuke with a log earlier but had been carful to hide _his_ interference. Now Kakashi just jumped infront of Sasuke and, with minimalistic movement, did a basic, nonlethal, one-sided **lariat** which instantly knocked Meizu out. This caused Meizu's momentum to, rather hilariously, propel his legs forward and almost hit Sasuke in the face.

Sasuke looked at his teacher with something akin to awe at just how quickly he'd dispatched the seemingly invincible, demon brother.

The other demon brother called Gozu, at this point blitzing toward Tazuna, saw Kakashi out of the corner of his eye and with highly trained speed, turned on a dime and **Shunshin'd** into the forest.

This move was all for naught in the end, as being a highly skilled special Jōnin, Kakashi actually managed to intercept Gozu mid **Shunshin** and **lariat** him like his brother.

...

In less than a minute, both demon brothers were tied up, awakened and spilling the details of their mission...

* * *

*Untrained civilians are THAT slow.

Non-canon Jutsu list:

**True-Henge Technique:** D-rank Ninjutsu. Unlike the standard **Henge**, the **True-Henge Technique**, is not merely a Genjutsu but a physical manifestation; Unlike the **Henge** which only deceives the senses, the **True-Henge** is essentially a second skin made entirely of chakra. Though its possible to change into just about anything with the **True-Henge** its incredibly concentration-inefficient. Hundreds of **True-Henge** variations have been done using alternative hand-signs. A particularly famous example is the **Beast Ninja Art: Four-legs Technique** signature to the Inuzuka clan. Another is Naruto's signature **Sexy Technique**. Naruto originally learned the **True-Henge** in the only extra-credit class he'd ever bothered to attend in the academy.

**False Chakra Genjutsu**: A-rank Genjutsu. The main weakness of any subtlety Genjutsu is how highly skilled sensors can literally sense the chakra used for the technique. this problem is fixed with the **False Chakra Genjutsu **which literally replaces your sense of the surrounding chakra. Despite the low chakra cost, considered an A-rank Jutsu due to the nature of the technique; how difficult it is to amply without giving itself away and the excessive amount of chakra control required to maintain it.

**Shunshin Technique**: A canon Jutsu but I should explain exactly how it works. To **Shunshin** is to distribute your chakra into your muscles making them more effective. The control required to do the this without hand-seals however, is significant. The main weakness of the **Shunshin** is that despite increasing your speed, it doesn't increase your perception of time. Many a ninja have accidentally **Shunshin'd** into a tree and died on impact. A **Light Shunshin Technique** filters considerably less chakra into your muscles yet allows someone increased speed in a pinch if they can control it. A **Shunshin-formation-attack** is when a ninja practices a particular, simple, Taijutsu move so many times that they can use a heavy **Shunshin** on it while still maintaining control of the specific series of movements ingrained into muscle-memory.

I still wanted our three Genin to have some fighting done despite facing the demon brothers so I portrayed Gozu and Meizu as heavy assassin specialists with abysmal speed.


	4. Why the Wave?

Get off my case. I don't own Naruto and I don't own the new picture on the cover of this story. I'm just using these things to cause happiness in a nonprofit-based way. That is all.

* * *

The two demon brothers, Gozu and Meizu, looked up from the tree they had been tied to and watched in dread as Kakashi did some **B****asic Medical Ninjutsu** on Naruto's large and very fatal looking chest-wound.

In all honesty, the brothers had no idea how anyone could even hope to survive a wound like that. Not only was Gozu's stab almost a foot deep into the direct center of the Genin's chest, likely piercing through SEVERAL major Arteries, but Gozu Gauntlet had been lined with very generous amounts of poison. Even the barest scratch from it would almost always kill without the proper antidote.

'Yet with the amount of poison that kid has been afflicted with, even the antidote couldn't possibly save him.' Gozu confirmed inside his head. 'Why does the copy-cat ninja even bother trying **Medical Ninjutsu** on such a clearly lost cause?'

Neither Gozu nor Meizu had been joking around for their latest Mission (not that they really ever did). They had immediately spotted the Special Jōnin in the group, and had taken all possible precautions at their disposal before starting their attack. Though they knew it probably wouldn't help them if they failed their initial charge, they had put a lot of high quality poison on their Gauntlets.

And they would smell like fern for _Weeks_ if they survived this.

They'd relaxed once the threat of the Jōnin was gone. The demon brothers were around Genin level In direct engagements (a skill they needed to improve) so they'd decided to toy around with the remaining Genin, for some fighting practice. If things went south, they had an almost Jōnin level escape speed and would easily get away from a team of Genin level brats. Special Jōnin were just a whole different picture.

'At least we took out one.' The Demon Brothers thought. 'He might not be much now but with such a famous Sensei, he could have probably made it to chunin had he survived.'

Suddenly the glowing green coming from Kakashi's hands stopped and Kakashi sighed, putting his gloves back on.

"Sorry guys… I don't know how to say this, but… well… we'll have to wait here a good hour before Naruto makes a full recovery and we can hit the road again."

The Demon Brothers face-faulted in their ropes.

The sheer stupidity that reality was putting them through…

A twenty foot summons wouldn't have survived that! Such a small and scrawny boy recovering from it in just short of an hour was plain _unfair_!

Still, they were in no position to ask such questions, so they kept nice and quit while Sasuke and Sakura breathed their sighs of relief at the safety of their teammate.

Meizu, however, couldn't help himself with another matter.

"How were you able to detect our movements? We did everything we could think of to mask our presence…" Meizu mused out loud.

"I'm a Kage level sensor, amongst other things." Kakashi said, surprising Meizu with an answer. "I noticed you the moment we left Konoha. I'm impressed by the distance you managed to follow us from; had I not spotted you earlier, your fern impression might have _actually_ fooled me. Sadly, your victory here just wasn't to be. I was expecting you from the beginning."

"Knowing that, why'd you leave the kids to fight?" Tazuna questioned curiously, from his spot next to Sakura.

"Three reasons actually. First, their opening move was so quick it actually shocked me into inaction for a couple seconds. Second, I wanted to know for sure if the target of these ninja was you or us. We'll get to that later… And third," he said turning to Sasuke and Sakura, "I _really_ wanted to knock you guys down a few pegs."

Queue sweat drops all around.

"I'm serious. These guys were only Chūnin level opponents, yet all of you would be dead right now, without causing even a single injury to these two, if it wasn't for me. None of you are in any position to be refusing training from me or slacking off, thinking you can already face whatever the world has to offer you."

"Sakura, even though you executed the **Light-Shunshin** **T****echnique **I taught you almost perfectly, you clearly didn't take my advice to improve it. If you had, you might have dodged Meizu's first whip attack and allowed Sasuke more time to start his fireball.

"Sasuke, though I'm impressed by your reaction times, if you had done those extra laps I'd recommended to you from the beginning, you might have kept up with your opponent easier. And what did I tell you about getting cocky in the middle of a fight. If someone is so easily overpowering you, don't suddenly start holding your ground just because you've awakened a single tomoe'd **Sharingan**! If you had kept dodging backwards like you had in the beginning, I might not have needed to **Substitute** you with a log!

"Naruto actually followed my teachings the best! Even though he obviously couldn't keep up with his opponent, I'll freely admit Naruto's speed has almost doubled since when he first arrived on the team. Even though he froze up and was grievously wounded in the end, he actually had both the courage AND the will to hold on to his opponent and delay him for almost as long as you did Sasuke.

"Let this be a lesson for you two. _Never_ ever think you're strong enough for now! Always keep on improving at the fastest pace you can manage. The rest of the world will be improving along with you."

With that, Kakashi turned back to Tazuna.

"Don't think I've forgotten about your mistake. We haven't heard anything about you being targeted by Ninjas. The request was just supposed to be protection from gangs, thieves and roving bands of brigands, not Chūnin level Shinobi! This is clearly a B rank mission or higher; not something my Genin are ready for yet… or probably a while to come. To protect you from ordinary dangers until you complete your bridge would be a simple thing.

"If you told the Hokage that you were being targeted by Ninja, this mission would have been classified and priced for Jōnin, not second rate Genin like the ones here. It appears that there is some good reason for this," Kakashi said, observing Tazuna's posture. "But it's never a good idea to conceal facts when asking for help.

"This task goes far beyond the boundaries of the job we were assigned. We have every right to quit and leave you here to get killed by whoever's targeting you."

A sliver of hope crawled up the Demon Brother's spines. From the way the copycat was talking, he was thinking about quitting his mission and leaving Tazuna to die. If Kakashi quit and no longer bothered about protecting Tazuna, it was possible that that the Jōnin wouldn't kill the two of them, finding it unnecessary.

It was over-optimistic, but that how people are while facing sure death.

"Yea, we're not good enough yet to handle something like this. We should quit." Sakura said nervously, always the one for common sense. "**Medical Ninjutsu** or not, we should really get back to Konoha and have a full time doctor look at Naruto's wound. Despite what you say about a full recovery, a wound as big as that can easily reopen if you leave it alone for only an hour or two. We were hardly a match for these two Chūnin, if we face more opponents of their level, we might not survive: Especially if one of us is injured."

'Yes! Leave! Go on your way and forget all about us!' the Demon Brothers thought in unison until they both saw something that gave them simultaneous heart attacks.

"Its fine! I'm ok!" Naruto said, jumping up. He seemed to be completely ignoring the fatal wound in the middle of his chest from five minutes ago. "And I think I'm fully recovered too! I feel great! We'll definitely complete this mission and I definitely won't freeze up and be a burden anymore! Believe it! In fact, I swear it by the pain of my chest wound; I will protect the old man!"

Kakashi sighed. He'd underestimated the power of the Kyūbi. Recovering from a wound that big in only five minutes shouldn't even be physically possible. Now Sasuke and Sakura might ask questions...

Kakashi had planned to go back to Konoha after an encounter with their C rank pursuers. The brief lesson would have been enough to keep his Genin on their toes and now that Sasuke had activated the first stage of his **Sharingan**, they might be ready to learn some more techniques.

Yet now that Naruto had just sworn fealty to the stupid bridge builder, it would send his Genin a really bad picture if he were to just back out. Even Sakura had gotten a determined look in her eye...

Well… Kakashi supposed he could plan around this. He just had to make his little _dip_ into the world of powerful Ninja, a full on _dive_. They'd already faced Chūnin. It was unlikely that they'd send anyone much stronger. He could handle any number of these weaker Chūnin with one eye closed. If Kakashi was lucky, whoever was targeting the bridge builder would also send some brigands or something for his Genin team to get real practice on.

It wouldn't be _that_ dangerous with him there, and it would definitely be worth it if everything went well. Who knew… they might even catch up with the _other_ Genin their age.

"Well, I think we've all decided… We'd better get a move on if we want to arrive on time and help the construction of Tazuna's bridge." Kakashi finally stated. "Tazuna, lead the way."

"What about them…" Tazuna said, pointing back at the tied up Demon Brothers. "Are we just going to leave them there?"

"Don't worry. Tonight, I'll send up a flare and call for a recovery team. A team of Chūnin will escort the Demon Brothers to Konoha's torture and interrogation department. Hopefully interrogation will provide us with the latest information on the Hidden Mist's rebellion." Kakashi stated. "Our job, for now, is to complete this mission."

* * *

The next three hours on the road were filled with nervous tension yet little action. Kakashi noticed Sasuke trailing next to him, looking like he wanted to say something.

Knowing how it wasn't in an emo's nature to start a conversation, Kakashi decided to save Sasuke the trouble. "Is something bothering you?"

Sasuke nodded. "Were the demon brothers really only Chūnin level? I've been training my whole life so that I'd be strong enough to reach my goal, yet I couldn't keep up with Meizu at all. Even with my **Sharingan**, I was completely helpless against Meizu. I would have lost to him, even if I never stopped retreating. Why is all of my training ineffective..."

Kakashi sighed. He'd asked his sensei the same question on his first B-rank mission. "Pay attention Sasuke. This is something all Shinobi have to know if they want to become successful. Do you know why they teach the basics of a agriculture, economics and engineering at the academy?"

"To make us more successful spies?" Sasuke guessed, completely lost.

"No. Do you know why they bring in a random guest every other month who spends the whole day yammering on about their life?"

"As punishment for Naruto's pranks?" Sasuke said, knowing already that he was wrong. Somehow, that answer just didn't seem to fit anymore.

"Of coarse not. Do you know why the academy spends so many resources bringing in a professional Yaminaka mind-reader to link the minds of the entire class and allow them to read each others thoughts for a full day?!"

"I skipped that class..." Sasuke admitted.

"I did too." Kakashi said, calming down and patting Sasuke on the shoulder. "We were very similar when we were academy students. I was always the very best yet always so cold to everyone around me. I thought only of power and how to attain it. Only to reach my lofty goals. I never thought that I'd find important strength in anything but the most obvious of places. I'm just lucky that I had such a good sensei to explain things on our first B-rank mission...

"Undoubtedly, the most important part of being a strong Ninja is empathy." Kakashi said in his best inspiring voice. "When you see strong Ninja fight each other at their most serious, they almost always talk to each other, lecture each other and explain their Nindos to each other. They aren't taunting each other or hoping for mercy. They're trying to establish empathy."

"So your saying I'm weak because I don't have enough empathy?" Sasuke said, skeptically.

"You _will_ be stronger once your more empathetic, but you still wouldn't have had any chance against the Demon Brothers. Empathy would have only given you the reason _why_ you're so much weaker." Kakashi explained.

"Well, why am I so much weaker?" Sasuke asked, simply. He was tired of the confusing lectures.

"Sasuke. Do you really think you're the only one with a good goal for becoming a Ninja? Do you really think that you're the only one who desperately needs to grow stronger for some reason? Do you really think, that that Demon Brother back there, Meizu, hasn't been training for his whole life _just as hard as you?_!"

Sasuke suddenly stopped. "Just as hard as me?"

"Yes. They've trained just as hard as you and for a lot longer. Now that you've seen your first real battle, you're going to train like crazy so that you can catch up right? They undoubtedly went through that too. Everyone does. What you fought was the result of the same intense training that you're about to do. You're _still_ really talented, however, in this world, effort means more than talent. Both effort and the time taken to apply it."

"Hn..." Sasuke replied... But it was a little different than the scoffs before. It didn't mean 'I don't care' or 'go away'... It meant something more along the lines of 'I'm thinking about it'.

'As long as you do that' Kakashi thought, proudly in his mind.

* * *

About three hours after Team 7 left them on the side of the road, Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of the Demon Brothers, seemingly out of nowhere.

Gozu and Meizu stared as the sudden Jōnin suddenly landed in front of them. Didn't he leave?

"Yo!" Kakashi said, with that eye-smile of his.

The Demon Brothers sweat-dropped.

"Why are you here? Don't you have mission to complete?" Meizu finally spoke up. 'Was his talk of interrogation a lie? Did he really sneak all the way back here just to kill us?'

"Well, technically I'm not here." Kakashi explained, "Right now I'm just a **Shadow Clone**."

'That makes more sense.' Meizu admitted in his mind, 'Leave a hidden **Shadow Clone** behind to kill your poisoners without the children knowing. A plan worthy of a Jōnin. Too bad it means our death...'

"I'm here to release you"

"?!"

"You're not going to go after us again?" the Kakashi clone questioned.

"N-no! Of course we won't... You're too strong for us anyway!"

"And you're going to go back to the Hidden Mist to join the rebellion?"

"Killing the Mizukage is our dream. This mission was only a step! A way to raise funds!"

"Well..." The Clone said, "Word of the Mizukage's corrupt ways has reached even Konoha. Recently, The alliance between our nations has disbanded. You two still have potential to do good in the world. Next time, just pick your missions better."

And with that, the clone cut the ropes, freeing the Demon Brothers.

"Empathy..." Kakashi thought, as his clone finally dispelled. "Somehow, I know I made the right choice."

* * *

Sorry for the lack of action in this chapter. I felt enough was different from the original storyline already and I had to include it for the plot to make sense.

Chakra is made out of physical and spiritual energies combined. It's easy enough to figure out physical energy, but in my mind, spiritual energy should come mainly from your convictions and your Nindō. The easiest way to improve your Nindō is empathy, thus Ninja strive to understand other people, even in battle.

Sasuke has less chakra than Naruto because he isn't empathetic and has weaker convictions. He needs to understand this eventually if he's going to stay in Konoha. (Still on the fence with that. Comments?)

Kakashi is not just super nice because he's a nice guy... He's also nice so that he can follow his morals and grow his spiritual energy. He's taking a gamble by releasing the demon brothers but for him, its already worth it.


	5. Team 7 vs Zabuza

I don't own Naruto, but I've come up with this re-conception on my own.

You can use it if you want though. X)

* * *

The first hint of the enemy's presence came in the form of a bunny.

At some point in their walk to Tazuna's house, Naruto had lost his temper with Sasuke's brooding and, in a ploy to impress Sakura, he had thrown a kunai knife randomly into the bushes, pretending he had sensed something.

Maybe Naruto actually was a natural born sensor or maybe the kid just had the devil's luck, but somehow, the kunai had landed between the ears of a rather startled looking brown bunny. The rabbit appeared startled to the point of paralyzation.

The moment Sakura had seen the small rabbit, she had told Naruto off and start yelling at him. This had quickly escalated into the rather comedic scene of Naruto hugging and shedding very real tears for the pour, large eared rabbit.

What the Genin didn't consider was the quality of Naruto's aim. Though Naruto wasn't nearly as good as Sasuke with shuriken, there was little chance he'd miss a bunny from only eight meters away if he'd really sensed it. And a recent study on thrown kunai showed how almost nobody ever missed _above_ their target.

The suspicious placement of the bunny in relation to the shuriken, made Kakashi examine it closer, where he found a faint linger of foreign chakra, slowly fading into even deeper obscurity.

Someone had recently **Substituted** with this rabbit… likely to dodge Naruto's random shuriken in a way that wouldn't make noise.

Turning his senses outward, Kakashi did notice a vague chakra coming from the trees somewhere to the left or maybe north.

It was trying to conceal itself and was doing an amazing job at it. Kakashi couldn't even determine the chakra's exact location, much less its strength. This skill itself implied at least a Jonin level Shinobi, not the sort to give out an easy win, ether.

Kakashi almost considered surrendering but immediately discarded the thought. Leaving didn't just mean abandoning a drunken bridge builder; it meant abandoning a small yet impoverished country. He was fighting for something truly just. His team couldn't just quit. Frankly, Naruto would never agree to it.

After another brief moment of thought, Kakashi hovered his hand over his headband in an obvious message of 'come out, I know your there'.

A brief twitch of chakra was all the warning Kakashi had before the Kubikiribōchō, flew towards his team at bullet level speeds. Its speed could be attributed to its wielder's insane strength, the swords unusually dense mass and it's stupidly sharp edge. There was no time to shout 'duck', (At least, no time in a speed his Genin would pick up on) so Kakashi quickly did a seal-less **Shadow-Possession Jutsu** on his party and fell to the ground. His Genin also dropped to the ground at rates otherwise impossible for them.

The blade finally stopped over halfway into a tree-branch (amazing that it didn't go farther) and, through use of what could only be a bastardized **Flying Thunder God technique**, Zabuza Momochi appeared before them, standing on the hilt of his huge sword, gazing down at Kakashi and his Genin.

Noticing Zabuza's lack of immediate attack, Kakashi initiated the conversation.

"Well, well… if it isn't Zabuza Momochi, the kid who ran off and left the Hidden Mist Village."

To Kakashi's side, Naruto had surged forward, intent on proving himself. Kakashi blocked him of course.

"Calm down. Stay back. DON'T INTERFERE. This one's on a different plane from our previous opponents. This is Zabuza Momochi, the demon; the one who slaughtered his entire class in his graduation test… elite of the hidden mist. I'm not sure if even I can face him. Stay back and assume the Manji battle formation to protect Tazuna. That's the teamwork in this situation."

The Genin quickly surged into a protective formation around Tazuna.

"Kakashi of the **Sharingan** eye I presume? If it wouldn't be too much trouble… could you surrender the old man?" Zabuza questioned. "If you don't surrender, I might have to kill you." At this Zabuza chuckled. The fight hadn't even started and Zabuza's killing intent was already washing over Kakashi.

"All of you! Stay out of this fight." Kakashi said, addressing his Genin. "Zabuza… Shall we?"

And with that, Kakashi's **Sharingan** was out and spinning. Zabuza pushed from his tree with a speed untraceable to the Genin.

For a second, Zabuza was on the water, channeling chakra into the air for the **Hidden-in-the-Mist Jutsu**, whilst simultaneously channeling the chakra to create several water clones. Another second and he was again out of sight. Not only in a different location, but obscured by the **Hidden Mist Jutsu**.

Kakashi had copied three of the **Water Clones** and made two **Shadow clones** of his own, each with chakra equal to his. One of the **Shadow Clones** **Henge'd** into a kunai for the other **Shadow Clone** to use. The larger chakra presence on the two **Shadow Clones** would make them more convincing. The normal **Shadow Clone** did a quick and silent **Headhunter Jutsu** into the ground. It would be used as bait for a wasted series of **Doton counter-Jutsu**.

The real Kakashi would act like a **Shadow Clone** and would and jump into the trees, trying to get a reading on one of the enemy's locations.

On the opposite side of the clearing, closer to the tree Zabuza almost sliced in half, sat one of Kakashi's **Water Clones**. Another took his place guarding the Genin. There was a third **Water Clone** heading for the lake Zabuza sat in, but somewhere along the way it had gotten destroyed. One could deduce that the enemy was congregated in that area.

Zabuza started his **Killing Intent**.

The science behind **Killing Intent** is really rather interesting. The concept is to spread your chakra through the air and _into_ your target, a process that works better at certain frequencies. The chakra will act maliciously if you truly intend to kill your target and will attempt to overtake the target's chakra pathways, limiting Jutsu. The main goal for most people using this Jutsu is to partially overtake the enemy's relatively unprotected emotion slider at the bottom of the brain. This usually causes a severe and uncontrollable panic in the target. Fighting under such mental conditions is almost impossible. Concentration quickly plummets until even a trained Shinobi acts like a panicked civilian. Perhaps even worse, their spiritual chakra may simply refuse to respond.

In a way, you could call **Killing Intent** the natural **Genjutsu**. It was a skill that involved messing with the opponent's senses using your chakra, so most thought it applied. It wasn't that vulnerable, though, to common **Anti-Genjutsu** methods. **Chakra Release** did surprisingly little and using Pain was only really a temporary solution, since it didn't actually _remove_ the perpetrator's chakra. The only real protection from this method was a higher chakra volume than the user, or at least one of a comparable magnitude.

Zabuza was the foremost expert in the **Killing Intent Technique** in The Hidden mist. He could release so much 'fear' into the air that even a trained Chunin could end up completely paralyzed with extreme terror. There was unlikely any one person more skilled in the art than Zabuza, who's chakra was so malicious it could even plant doubt into the heart of a Kage.

Zabuza had aimed his **Killing Intent** at Kakashi's **Water Clone**. He knew that **Water Clones** weren't affected by **Killing Intent **(one of their few advantages) but he was using the **Killing Intent** in the air to mask a subtle change in chakra nature, turning regular and harmless mist into a poison mist.

Kakashi quickly picked up on the change and used his **Water Clone** to perform a basic **Dispelling Wind Jutsu**.

Sasuke was close to breaking at this point. Even though the **Killing Intent** wasn't actually aimed at him, more than enough was getting through to put Sasuke in a light panic.

'This terrible blood-thirst… If I draw his Attention by even blinking, he'll kill me. I can feel it! I can't stay like this for long! I'm going to lose it!' Sasuke thought, sweat pouring down his face. 'A master ninja determined to make a kill… Knowing my life is entirely in his hands… I hate it! I want to die just to end this feeling!'

Sasuke's thoughts were arranged on his face, as obvious as day to any who cared to read them. Zabuza could easily imagine the exact words Sasuke was saying to himself, inside his head; all of Sasuke's training to mask emotion, completely forgotten under the intensity of Zabuza's **Killing Intent**.

Kakashi's **Shadow Clone** noticed this and immediately started saturating his Genin with its very own **Calming Intent**. His chakra invading his Genin's bodies in a similar way to Zabuza's, yet with a goal to help drive Zabuza's chakra out. For added effect, Kakashi used his **Water Clone** to reassure the Genin: "Sasuke. Calm down. Even if he gets me, I'll still protect you." The **Water Clone** said as Kakashi's chakra reinforced Sasuke's system.

"I wouldn't bet on that." Came the reply, as Zabuza revealed himself in the direct middle of Team 7's Manji battle formation.

Before he could do a broad swing to finish everyone off, Kakashi's **Water Clone** was there, blocking Zabuza's sword with one kunai and stabbing Zabuza in the gut with another.

And Zabuza exploded into water.

Another Zabuza rose up behind Kakashi, swinging his own Kubikiribōchō at least twice as quick as previously and splitting Kakashi cleanly in half.

And Kakashi exploded into water.

As Zabuza swung his sword to chop up Tazuna, another Kakashi suddenly appeared and intercepted the swing. The two glared at each other for a second, each in a clear deadlock position before Zabuza smirked.

"I'll admit it Kakashi, You deserve your moniker as 'the Copycat Ninja'. Copying my **Water Clone Jutsu** through this heavy fog and making three of them is definitely impressive… However, there is a fundamental difference in our strength."

And then Team 7 was surrounded by six other Zabuza clones, each about to swing their swords and cleave directly through the group.

As the Kakashi and Zabuza **Water Clones** were duking it out in a Chunin level Taijutsu battle, Kakashi's underground **Shadow Clone** quickly made a thin, yet iron hard, **Mud Wall** around Team 7 which blocked the various **Water Clone**'s Kubikiribōchō from slicing Kakashi's students up.

The **Mud Wall** couldn't completely block the epic blades and several of the swords pierced partially through. However, before the **Water Clones** could retreat and try again, Kakashi's **Shadow Clone** used the **Superheated Rock Jutsu** to practically melt the ground beneath them, dispelling several **Water Clones** and creating an artificial barrier for Zabuza to navigate around.

There was an immediate response from the lake where a large, forty foot **Water Dragon Jutsu** rose up and threatened to crush Team 7 or at least cool down the rocks protecting them. Kakashi's **Shadow Clone** chose then to reveal itself, and using its **Sharingan**, copied Zabuza's Jutsu perfectly.

Kakashi's **Water dragon** met Zabuza's midair and the two exploded in a brilliant cascade of water. Team 7 and Tazuna only survived because of Kakashi's half broken **Mud-Wall** protection.

Sakura, who was having trouble following the fight, took this moment to comment.

"Is this even Ninjutsu?"

Kakashi's **Shadow Clone** met Zabuza under the twin cascading **Water-Dragons**. It took a few seconds of intense Jonin level **Taijutsu** for Kakashi's **Sharingan** to recognize that Zabuza was also only a **Shadow Clone** but Kakashi knew how that gave him the advantage. He knew he was fighting a **Shadow Clone**, Zabuza didn't.

"Zabuza. I must say, I'm impressed by your Ninjutsu. There's hardly anyone outside of the Hidden Leaf who knows the **Shadow Clone Jutsu**." Kakashi said, talking at speeds one would usually require training to hear.

"So the Sharigan _can_ see through any Ninjutsu… Yes Kakashi, I do admit the genius of your Second Hokage. I've gone through great lengths to learn this Jutsu and it has served me very well. Too bad it's so tiring. I can't _practically_ use more than one at a time."

"You seem to idolize the Second Hokage in more ways than one…"Kakashi murmured, looking at the handle of Zabuza's blade. "How about we stop holding back and fight at our most serious. I think it's clear we both respect each other enough…"

While his **Shadow Clone** was talking to Zabuza's, the real Kakashi was sneaking towards the lake under the disguise of his **Hiding in the Camouflage Jutsu**. Considering its chakra levels, it was unlikely that Zabuza's **Shadow Clone** had made the huge **Water Dragon**. Chances were, Zabuza's real body was hidden somewhere around the lake, watching the fight and controlling the **Water Clones**.

Kakashi sensed a consideration of chakra in a tree by the lake, hidden in some foliage. He started skirting around it, hoping to blind-side it. With luck, he'd take it by surprise.

"Fight at our most serious…" Zabuza's **Shadow Clone** considered. "Somewhere around here, hidden in the trees, is my assistant. The purest and most talented heart I've ever laid my eyes upon. Yet he's spent his life so far, living on the streets because of the Fourth Misukage. For me, the worst thing is the knowledge: The knowledge that Haku is only one of hundreds who had everything taken from him by that man."

And Kakashi felt pity for Zabuza. A part of Kakashi wanted Zabuza to defeat him so that he could right the great injustice of the Misukage's tyrannical regime. The part was too big. For a brief moment, Kakashi's **Shadow Clone** lost control of its spiritual energies. Sensing Kakashi's loss of moral certainty, Zabuza's **Shadow Clone** quickly poured its most potent **Killing Intent** into the air around what it thought was Kakashi. For a split second, Kakashi's legs wouldn't move.

A split second was more than enough time… The **Water Prison Jutsu** only had eleven Hand Seals.

If Zabuza had used his sword, Kakashi's natural reactions might have saved him. The **Water Prison Jutsu **might have been slower to kill, but time hardly mattered in a one-on-one fight… or what was essentially a one-on-one since it only had three Genin watching.

When The **Water Dragon Jutsu** finally came to a stop, Team 7 climbed out of Kakashi's **Earth Wall** and saw their seemingly invincible Sensei, trapped in Zabuza's Jutsu, slowly suffocating and unable to move.

Kakashi's **Clone** was struggling to remain solid inside of the Zabuza **Clone's** Jutsu. Though they didn't actually need to breathe, **Shadow Clones** amounted to little more than thin bubbles of chakra and were easily popped when squeezed by an opponent's Jutsu. It took all of the **Clone's** concentration to remain solid inside of the violently swirling dome.

There's said to be a weakness to every Jutsu… but for the **Shadow Clone**, there are several.

Among the **Clone's** vulnerability to sharp objects, excessive blunt force and Chakra based matter, the **Shadow Clone** also had a perfect copy of its user's mind. There are whole sections of the human brain devoted to nothing but confirmation that you are yourself. The human mind is not made to understand the concept of being a **Shadow Clone**. It's a common phenomenon for long lasting **Shadow Clones** to convince themselves that they're real, especially in the middle of a tense fight where one's identity isn't a big issue.

This flaw could be negated through training and practice fairly easily. Once the **Shadow Clone** had a moment to think again, it would undoubtedly remember its identity… but in the middle of a tense or surreal situation, the **Shadow Clone** might forget about its caster entirely.

So when the Zabuza **Shadow Clone** noticed that all of the **Water Clones** were missing, it didn't even blink. It wasn't controlling them yet, was it? It didn't matter… Zabuza could instantly make another twenty, even without using hand seals…

Twenty would be overkill against the Genin though, so he only made one to start off with. If the first one failed, making another seven would be easy. That wasn't even counting Zabuza's Killing Intent, which could probably melt the poor Genin's minds if he focused it.

And that was how Zabuza's frightening **Water Cone** ambled towards Team 7.

The **Clone** saw the looks on the Genin's faces and couldn't help but respond, "Heh-heh-heh… Little ninja wannabes. Trying so hard to fit in, you even wear a leaf ninja headband. But a true ninja is one who has crossed and re-crossed the barrier between life and death... Someone in my Bingo book... We don't call your kind 'ninja'. We call them…"

And with that, the Clone vanished in a blur of speed. The next thing Naruto knew, he was flying toward the other side of the clearing at unnatural speeds. He'd be rendered unconscious… if he survived at all…

"Brats." the Zabuza **Clone** finished. This particular Genin was even slower than he'd thought. Naruto hadn't even responded until after he was hit.

As Naruto flew through the air at unnatural speeds, his headband detached from his head and fell to the ground.

In a show of extreme symbolism, Zabuza stepped on it, rubbing it on the ground.

Sasuke's **Sharingan** eyes, if only barely, had seen the Zabuza **Clone** hit Naruto with the flat of its sword. Zabuza truly had inhuman speed. With a shock, Sasuke realized that being one of the Hidden Mist's elites would put the guy in front of him in the same league as his brother… Defeating Zabuza was the goal then. If he could match someone like Zabuza, he could match his brother. Clearly, Team Seven wasn't ready.

In his Water prison, the Kakashi **Shadow Clone** was genuinely panicking. With his reputation, it was possible that Zabuza would _actually_ kill his young Genin. With the real Kakashi going after Zabuza, and himself trapped in the **Water Prison**, no one would be around to save them.

"Everyone, listen! Take Tazuna and go! This isn't a fight you can win! If he wants to hold me in this water prison, he can't leave this place. He can't control his **Water Clone** from more than a certain distance away... So get out of here!" But despite Kakashi's words of panic, none of his Genin moved.

Then Naruto woke up.

And with a yell, empowered by a little kyuubi chakra, he ran directly at Zabuza's **Water Clone**.

And Naruto was kicked back easily...

But he was holding something in his hand: His Hidden Leaf headband...

It was amazing that he'd retrieved it... Though **Water Clones** were only a tenth the strength of the user and incredibly unwieldy, by all universal rights, Naruto should not have managed to grab that headband.

But by some ridiculous stroke of luck, he did. And Naruto used this miracle to inspire Sasuke and Sakura. He held up his prize to the world before saying his speech and putting on the headband. "Hey... You... What's it like to live life without eyebrows, freak? I've got a new ninja for your Bingo Book right here! A guy who's going to be the next Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village! Naruto Uzumaki!"

There was no doubt that Naruto would make a great public speaker in the future. Those words had restored hope to his team, even when it was clear that there was none. Even Zabuza had paused, listening to them.

"Sasuke, I have a plan." Naruto said, as if there was genuine hope in their situation.

There was still no hope, however. Zabuza was still on the fence about killing the brats. That's why he hadn't just overwhelmed them with an emotionally scarring **Killing Intent**. If he was going to let the brats walk out of this alive, he wouldn't use **Killing Intent**. That would just be cruel. Like leaving a blind and crippled deer in the forest after you'd shot it.

But these guys actually thought that they had a chance... They needed a lesson about the world or they were as good as dead anyway.

Zabuza unleashed a small **Killing Intent** on the group.

The civilian, Tazuna, immediately fell to the ground. He'd been knocked out so quickly by it, that he'd probably forget the experience. Sasuke was paralyzed, as expected of a Genin level ninja. Sakura was on her knees and vomiting, she was spasming occasionally as well. Clearly low on Chakra...

But to Zabuza's surprise, Naruto seemed relatively unaffected by it.

His grin had turned into a scowl so he must have felt it, but he wasn't on the ground or paralyzed... And activating his chakra sense, Zabuza could see why. That kid had almost as much chakra as Kakashi at the start of their fight. Not only that, but a different red Chakra was blocking most of Naruto's pathways and preventing intrusion.

Had this kid gone through some sort of anti-**Killing Intent** training?

Zabuza didn't even bother continuing his **Killing** **Intent**. It was no fun if he couldn't bring them all down at once.

Sasuke quickly shook himself off and hastily entered a defensive stance, but you could see him shaking. You didn't just walk away from being emotionally violated like that... But Sasuke seemed to be recovering quickly.

Sakura actually recovered better. Clearly, she'd heard about **Killing Intent** since she did several **Chakra Releases** before standing up. Zabuza allowed her to. The fight was one-sided enough anyway.

"So now you understand don't you? When I was your age, I'd already stained my hands in blood. What your playing is nothing more than a child's game."

Zabuza's **Water Clone **was suddenly on top of Sasuke, swinging his sword like a bat.

Because his **Sharingan** was activated, Sasuke could just barely see the move... but his muscles had no hope of responding in time for anything but a basic block, which he was lucky to pull off.

With the force of Zabuza's swing, he still would've knocked Sasuke out, if Zabuza wasn't forced to abandon the attack mid-move so that he could block Sakura's** Light Shunshin attack** instead.

Sakura, despite the extra speed from her **Light Shunshin**, was easily knocked down and would have been knocked out if not for the fifty Narutos suddenly appearing between her and Zabuza.

With three swings of Zabuza's sword, all of Naruto's** Shadow Clones** were eliminated... but by then, Sakura had managed to pull herself out of danger and Naruto was throwing a shuriken, from his pack, to Sasuke.

With a snap, Sasuke caught and unfolded the Demon Wind Shuriken. And with his **Sharingan** active, Sasuke did a** Chakra-enhanced jump**, directly into the air. As testament to Sasuke's awesomeness, he managed to not only throw the Shiruken at Zabuza with perfect aim, but also throw the **True** **Henge**'d Naruto directly under it and conceal him with the **Shadow Shuriken Jutsu**. The aim was dead on and Zabuza was impressed that they'd actually aimed for his real and currently venerable body.

"As least this time you've aimed at my true form..." Zabuza said in irony. "But you're naïve!" he said, catching the Shuriken right out of the air. "Really naïve," he continued, jumping the **True Henge**'d Naruto. "Oh, so pathetically naïve..." his **Water Clone** finished for him as it rose out of the water and caught the kunai knife that the un-**Henge**'d Naruto had just thrown.

But suddenly A kunai was thrown from the center of Zabuza's **Water Prison Jutsu. **In a split second, the kunai knife un-did it's** True Henge **and turned back into one of Kakashi's **Shadow Clones **which itself threw a Kunai enhanced with **lightning-chakra**, to increase speed, at Zabuza's torso.

Since he was still in midair, without ether of his arms free, and since the kunai was traveling faster than the average bullet, Zabuza was forced to let go of his **Water Prison** so that he could dodge.

Kakashi was free.

And as the 'Kunai'** Shadow Clone** picked off Zabuza's two remaining **Water Clones**, Zabuza and Kakashi did a faceoff on the lake.

"Thanks Naruto. Your plan was great. It distracted Zabuza enough for a hole to open in his **Water Prison**. It would only fit a kunai, but thankfully I had one handy." Kakashi said, eye-smiling at his group before scowling a Zabuza who scowled right back.

"Give it up Kakashi. We've already proved that your conviction is weaker than mine." Zabuza boasted, "As you are now, you'll _never_ beat me!"

"Don't be so sure of yourself..." Kakashi countered, "The man _you're_ working for is a filthy drug-dealer who's hell-bent on driving this entire country into an economic depression so deep that it'll make the Land of Water's problems look tame. This could all be stopped peacefully if Tazuna would just finish his bridge and right now... you're the only thing in the way."

"Who cares!" Zabuza yelled in defiance, running at Kakashi with the Kubikiribōchō swinging... but his speed was no longer chakra-enhanced and he couldn't dodge the Lightning-covered arm which soon pierced directly through his chest.

Both parties, suddenly burst into smoke.

After a few long and puzzling seconds, Zabuza flew backwards from the tree-line by the lake. Each of his limbs had a kunai sticking out of it, restricting movement. In that condition, it was clear that Zabuza had already lost the fight, yet he was still standing and wasn't letting go of his sword.

"Give up, Zabuza. As you are now, you might even lose against my Genin over there." Kakashi said, seriously. "Go after some other bridge builder... right now, you stand no chance..."

"Sorry Kakashi," Zabuza responded, not looking sorry at all. "I'm fighting for my own ideals, and I'm not about to stop."

"Then your future is death." Kakashi said, taking out a kunai.

But before Kakashi could do anything, several fast moving Senbon Needles slammed themselves into the side of Zabuza's neck from his blind spot.

A small masked figure appeared from the trees and checked Zabuza's corpse. "You were right" it said, "his future was death."

After a brief and awkward pause, where the small figure hoisted Zabuza over it's shoulder, Sakura gathered the courage to speak.

"Your a hunter-ninja? I recognize that mask..."

"Yes... very knowledgeable of you. I was sent on an assignment to kill Zabuza since he betrayed the mist... but without your help I'd have never bested him. You have my thanks."

And with that, the masked figure did a hand seal and disappeared in a swirl of mist. There was a short pause before Naruto started yelling.

"Who _was_ that! He looked MY age yet he finished off Zabuza who none of us could even hope to touch! We must be pathetic! uh? Kakashi? Earth to Kakashi?..."

And with that, Kakashi crumpled to the ground.

* * *

Finally finished this chapter. I'm thinking of making a new Fanfic to describe the new Jutsu and the increased speed levels in this story.

Comment if you can. Even if you don't have anything nice to say, say what you can so that I can know if I'm doing something wrong.


	6. Chakra Exhaustion and Kakashi's Past

I don't own Naruto, but I'm not making money off of this so who cares?

* * *

When Kakashi awakened from his **Sharingan** induced coma, he had several questions to answer for.

"It seems I used my **Sharingan** too much in that fight..." Kakashi said sheepishly, "Because I can't turn it off, my **Sharingan** can use a lot of Chakra without me noticing. I guess I'd used up all of my Chakra and lost consciousness by the time the Hunter Ninja arrived. I'm sorry to tell you this, but since I have Chakra Exhaustion, I don't think I'll be able to move properly for the rest of the week. I might need to borrow crutches from Tazuna. Yes, Naruto? You have a question?"

"Umm... what's Chakra Exhaustion again?" Naruto asked sheepishly.

'That's right...' Kakashi thought. 'I momentarily forgot how dumb he is...'

"Chakra Exhaustion is a medical condition that people get if they use up too much Chakra." Sakura explained. "Since chakra is the combination of two energies, physical and spiritual, depleting it usually has two major effects: inability to think and inability to move. I assume Kakashi has gotten over the first one."

Kakashi nodded and continued on, "Certainly a troublemaker like you, Naruto, must understand the effects of using all your energy. It currently feels like I've run around the entire village a hundred times at full sprint. I'm so exhausted that I've degraded my muscles from extraneous use. From how exhausted I am, it'll take days to restore my energy. This is inconvenient, but it won't kill me. The more dangerous effect is loss of Spiritual Energy. Spiritual Energy is you, yourself, and all of your ambition. If you lose enough of it, you'll end up broken or even worse, a vegetable: Gone in a way no amount of time or **Medical Ninjutsu** could fix."

"If that's the case, isn't it bad to use Spiritual Energy?" Naruto asked, puzzled. "Won't we run out?"

"There are theories on how exactly it works..." Kakashi admitted, "The Hokage himself spends a lot of time contemplating these things. He thinks that there are two types of Spiritual Energy, the True Spiritual Energy and the Residual Spiritual Energy that flows out of it. He thinks we usually use Residual Spiritual Energy first, for Jutsu, and only if we run out, we force ourselves to use the True Spiritual Energy. The idea is, that Residual Spiritual Energy is useless for anything but Ninjutsu while our True Spiritual Energy is the most important thing about us and could take years to even partially restore.

"Normally, your body knocks you out before you can use your True Spiritual Energy, but for those with particularly Chakra intensive techniques, you should be carful not to pass your limit." Suddenly, the serous feeling dissolved and Kakashi put on a another eye smile. "But that went off on a tangent, the Hunter Ninja _did_ dispose of the body immediately, right?"

"Well, he carried it off..." Sasuke started but as he said it, he seemed to realize the implications.

"The whole body?" Kakashi questioned. If you thought about that, the weapons and the timing for interference, Zabuza's survival became extremely obvious. "This is bad. It looks like Zabuza's alive."

"What! Zabuza's alive!" Naruto freaked.

"Almost definitely." Sakura said, having caught on. "Hunter Ninja protocol is to destroy the bodies of victims on the spot. The fact that the Hunter 'Killed' Zabuza in such a potentially non-fatal way and carried him out afterward almost definitely means that they're secret accomplices."

"But now that you've seen Zabuza fight, you'll have a better idea of his moves and how to beat him!" Sasuke said, confidently.

"Conversely, now that Zabuza's seen me fight, he'll have a better idea of my moves and how to beat me." Kakashi responded, sadly. "You still need to work on your empathy, Sasuke. We do have some time. It takes about a week to recover from a fake death."

"So what are we going to do..." Naruto whimpered, "... we barely survived last time. How can we win against such a powerful Ninja?"

"First, I'll assign you some training..." Kakashi started, but Sasuke scoffed.

"As if a week of training can make such a difference against a Jōnin."

"While a week of training won't put you on Zabuza's level, you might stand you own against one of his **Water Clones**; Maybe it'll put you on the level of the Demon Brothers... whatever the case, this training will help."

Sasuke still didn't believe it. "I've trained by myself, every single day, for the last four years. Even after all that, I've only gotten about eight times as strong. How much difference can a week make?"

Kakashi sighed. "You tend to get stronger if you have a clear goal in your training. Besides, this isn't a training technique they show you at the academy. It's considered dangerous to do without supervision, so they let us Jōnin Sensei teach it instead. I think you guys are finally ready."

"What is it?!" Naruto said excitedly, eager to get stronger and not rely on the Kyūbi's Chakra.

Kakashi smirked, "We'll learn how to climb trees!"

* * *

As expected, Sakura did the best in **Tree Climbing**. If you had such low chakra, it was unthinkable to lack basic control over it. Yet even Kakashi was surprised when she scaled half the tree on her first try.

Kakashi was a little disappointed in Sasuke but he was still doing better than the average Ninja, and though Naruto did even worse, they were both growing fast enough to be done in a week so who was he to complain?

After Sakura finished scaling her tree, which took less than two hours, Kakashi took her to a forest pool for Water Walking, which she finished by the end of the day. Her progress was truly astounding, despite her lack of stamina. The only real problem was her lack of useful Ninjutsu or base Taijutsu speed. Kakashi resolved to fix that by the end of the week.

It was some time after dinner that Sasuke approached him on Tazuna's porch. Always one for charity, Kakashi started the conversation.

"Wonderful night out isn't it?"

"Yea..." Sasuke said hesitantly. He was trying to find the right words for the question but wasn't doing so well. "Would you... I mean, can you tell me how you got your... I have the right to know... I mean... can't you tell me?"

"How I got my **Sharingan**?"

Sasuke nodded.

"Hmm... It's a long and complicated story that I haven't really told many people... but if anyone has a right to know, you do... Do you mind a long story?"

Sasuke considered for a minute before shaking his head. "I want to understand..."

Kakashi nodded and did one of his eye-smiles. "My lessons on empathy are finally catching on. Well, where to start... I guess I'll explain my team first."

Sasuke nodded for him to continue and prepared to imagine himself in Kakashi's shoes.

"My Sensei, at the time was none other than the Fourth Hokage. I hope I don't have to tell you how much I looked up to him. When he fought, his speed was untraceable, even after I got the **Sharingan**. He had several Jutsu that allowed him instant teleportation. He could make more **Shadow Clones** than Naruto and each could use his numerous Jutsu. One touch from his Jutsu meant death. My goal was to be a true Ninja and for me, Sensei embodied that. A giant fox was really his worst possible opponent.

"The girl on my team was called Rin and she'd been training to be a medical ninja. Originally, I didn't appreciate her enough. Because she was a medical ninja, she was fairly useless in a fight and got captured by enemies more than once. The first time, our sensei managed to save her. The second time... Despite her seriousness in Medic Ninja training, she was a fan girl most of the time and I ignored her like you ignore Sakura. I never felt I had time to respond to her confessions. I figured that romance came _after_ my goal.

"The third teammate was named Obito Uchiha and he acted like a black haired Naruto. He'd never known his parents and was bullied by all of his cousins for being the dead last in our Genin class. I always beat him in spars, so I never thought of him as my equal. He hoped he'd get an edge on me once he unlocked his **Sharingan**, but despite all of his efforts, he couldn't get even a single tomoe in our first two years as a team. I should mention that he had a crush on Rin.

"At the time, we were in the middle of war and people got promoted quickly, often lacking the skills for the job. That desperation took almost as many lives as the war itself, but it was needed to keep the village afloat. It was my second year on my team when I became Jōnin, primarily for my tracking skills, though my combat was still lacking. Due to lack of manpower, we were sent on an important mission while our Sensei joined the front lines.

"Around halfway into the mission, we encountered some patrolling Stone Ninja. Three Chūnin I believe, though they may have been stronger. We clashed a bit in the greenery, but they gained the upper hand and captured Rin, taking off with her. I wanted to follow the rules and continue on the mission since it could end the war, but Obito went off to save Rin instead."

"Why didn't you help rescue Rin?" Sasuke glared. "Aren't those who abandon their teammates _trash_?"

"They are. Now I know. I just didn't want you to use my method of realization.

"After thinking about it for a while, I did go back and rescue Obito and Rin. I managed a surprise attack on one of the Chūnin about to kill him. The second Chūnin knew a very effective **Hiding in the Camouflage Jutsu** and he stabbed my eye out before I knew what was happening. We couldn't track his movements until Obito finally unlocked his **Sharingan**.

"We ran into the cave where Rin was being held hostage and defeated the third Chūnin through teamwork, but in his dying moments he called for reinforcements and managed to bring the cave down on top of us. I was about to get crushed by a boulder but..."

It was then that Kakashi finally paused and Sasuke was let out of his trance. Tears were flowing from Kakashi's one visible eye and his arms were hovering over his chest, as if he wanted to hug himself. After about a second, Kakashi seemed to relax and he managed an eye smile.

"I was about to get crushed by a boulder, but Obito sacrificed himself to push me out of the way... In the end, half of Obito's body was crushed by rocks. He knew he wouldn't make it and knew the Stone's reinforcements were coming. He offered me his remaining Sharingan eye to replace my stabbed one and he told me to protect Rin at all costs.

"With the **Sharingan**, I managed to hold off the reinforcements for several minutes... Just before we got overwhelmed, Rin threw one of the Hokage's **Flying Thunder God** kunai at the enemy and Sensei teleported over to see what was wrong. He rescued us.

"I told this story to the council when I got back and I was allowed to keep my new eye. The main reason I wanted to be your Sensei was so that I could repay my debt to Obito. Sorry for not telling you."

The two sat silently under the moonlight.

"Do you... hate me for this eye? Will you forgive me for having it? In the end, I guess it works out... I can teach you some of what I know about it..." Kakashi said, hesitantly. "... But do you hate me for it?"

Sasuke thought long and hard about what he'd heard. Kakashi really had lived an amazing life. There was once a time, before the massacre, where Sasuke had idolized the Fourth Hokage. The idea that he was learning from the Fourth's student exited a small part of him. The idea that a non-Uchiha had a **Sharingan** eye, disgusted the rest. You could almost feel the sentimental value the eye held for Kakashi and the existence of another **Sharingan** welder was definitely very practical... but the whole situation rubbed some part of Sasuke the wrong way.

Choosing ignore that part for the more practical answer, Sasuke admitted, "No. I don't think I do hate you for it... But you better show me how to use it when the time comes."

Kakashi eye-smiled in response. It felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

"I will."

* * *

By the end of the week, both Naruto and Sasuke had finished tree climbing. Kakashi had made Sakura improve her **Light-Shunshin**, and using it, she could now fight at an even faster speed than Sasuke. Now Team 7 was finally ready for their confrontation.

And Zabuza was ready too...

* * *

Sorry. Another non-fight Chapter but this is about the point I wanted the story to become a little more AU.

Sasuke hears Kakashi past where he didn't before.

Also hope you liked my explanation of spiritual energy.

Again, I'm hoping to create another fanfiction to explain all the speed rankings and Jutsu Mechanics of this fiction.


	7. Team 7 vs Haku (part 1)

I don't own Naruto and never will. But I'm not making money of this_ ORIGANAL_ work so who cares.

* * *

When Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna finally arrived at the bridge, the were greeted by the sight of several unconscious builders. It appeared they'd been slung to the sides by the flat of some huge sword.

Zabuza had officially returned.

A heavy mist quickly formed around the group, confirming Kakashi's suspicion. It would be annoying to fight on this bridge. He'd have to limit his techniques if he didn't want to destroy it. It was _so hard_ to conjure a **Mud Wall** on asphalt.

Around the team, appeared a group of four Zabuzas. Sasuke's **Sharingan** judged them as Water Clones and as he looked, their muscles tensed as they prepared to swing their swords.

The swing was still ungodly fast to Sasuke, but he had finally reached the level where he could duck it, and off to the right, he saw how Sakura also managed to dodge under the swing with a her **Light-Shunshin**.

Before, they were getting owned by just one of these. Now, they were able to actually fight back. It was definite progress.

As his team ducked, Kakashi jumped in the air and threw several Shuriken at each of the Zabuza Clones. Through training, his throw accelerated the Shuriken to abnormal speeds and Zabuza's **Water Clones** were too busy to dodge. Around Team 7, the clones burst into water.

Through the fog, Kakashi heard Zabuza whistle.

"Impressive brats... Only a week of training and they've already progressed this far. But it was still too soon to bring them in a battle like this..." The Demon's voice echoed through the fog.

A single seal from Kakashi and much of the fog parted, revealing Zabuza and the shorter masked Ninja standing behind him. The two seemed relatively unconcerned with their loss from a week ago and wore the smug yet calculated expressions of professional Shōgi masters eyeing the fresh meat.

"It looks like we were right..." Kakashi started. "Our mysterious masked friend is playing on Zabuza's team."

"This one's mine!" Sasuke said. Kakashi held him back.

"Don't be foolish, you've improved immensely but that Masked Ninja could face even me. Fighting him would mean your death." Kakashi argued. "I'll face both of them. You protect Tazuna from Zabuza's **Water Clones**."

And with that, the mist thickened and the Jōnin were obscured from view. Even from Sasuke's **Sharingan**.

And for the next minute, nether Sasuke nor Sakura had any idea what was happening in that fog. Oh, they heard sounds, stuff like the clashing of swords, the rushing of powerful Water Jutsu and (oddly) the forming of ice.

Occasionally, a terrifying **Killing Intent** would wash over them only to be subdued, a split second later, by a **Calming Intent** of equal strength. Just being near this battle was akin to torture.

After an endless sixty seconds, a figure came out of the fog, spinning so fast that it looked like a tornado.

Thanks to the **Sharingan**, Sasuke was able to track and intercept Haku's weapon before it could cut him...

'...or before it could cut me for a third time...' Sasuke thought in worry. The slashes on his arm and his chest were already dripping blood. They could have been lethal if the masked figure had used anything stronger than a Senbon Needle. Kakashi was right, Sasuke was outmatched...

Sakura went in.

Using her **Light-Shunshin**, Sakura actually managed to push Zabuza's accomplice back.

For several seconds Sasuke gazed in wonder as what used to be a useless fan girl overpowered an opponent that he, an Uchiha, couldn't match.

Then his **Sharingan** saw the cuts...

While every single one of his teammate's strikes was blocked, Haku had transformed Sakura's chest into a tic-tac-toe board: the girl was already bleeding heavily. That Sakura was continuing her charge despite the wounds was an eye opener for Sasuke.

As Sasuke stood, awed by his teammate's courage, he saw Haku finally aiming for Sakura's jugular and his body moved on its own. With a Chakra-boosted dash, Sasuke was there, in front of Sakura, blocking Haku's needles.

... and Haku seemed to hesitate for a second, stepping back before returning to his combat posture. Whatever caused it, the hesitation was quickly gone. The cool and determined Haku had returned, flying at Tazuna with his Senbon out...

...Only to be intercepted by both Sasuke and Sakura. Suddenly the two of them felt stronger... better... The hesitation was gone from their attacks and it was clearly making a difference. Both Sasuke and Sakura were putting their full being into protecting each other. Gone was the hesitation of killing that would normally control a rookie's battle-mind. Not only were they parrying Haku's every strike, but they were landing several cuts of their own...

... Nothing more than glancing the skin, but Haku had very definitely been put on the defensive. The Genin's combined strength seemed far greater than the sum of their parts. If things continued like this, Haku would be defeated. The rookies were definitely putting up a much better showing than Haku had expected, but Haku had prepared for this possibility. If he wasn't strong, he couldn't defeat Zabuza's enemies and he'd become _useless_.

The idea of being useless again frightened Haku even more then Zabuza's **Killing Intent**. That's why he killed. That's why he did everything he could, to prepare for a fight. That's why he'd covered the ground with water, earlier.

Back-stepping and deflecting the Genin's Kunai with one arm, Haku quickly went through several One-Handed seals. Sasuke and Sakura managed to get a few cuts in, but couldn't do anything significant before Haku's **Jutsu** was finished.

The **Water Release: Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death** rose up from the puddles under the Genin's feet and formed a large dome of spikey and potentially lethal water spears, all pointing inward. It was an impressive Jutsu, though it wasn't that easy to aim. Sadly, if he didn't want to kill the Genin, he'd have to activate the Jutsu at only half speed... but there was no real escape from the solid wall of water spikes, so Haku wasn't really worried about them dodging.

Sakura froze in awe at her enemy's Jutsu and couldn't help but feel inadequate. 'I don't have any Jutsu on this scale and I'm only a year or two younger than him. Even with all of this training... How can we get out of this? What's the weak point? There appears to be less needles up above so maybe we could...'

The **Water Needles** caved in on the Genin.

Sakura grabbed Sasuke and did a **Chakra Enhanced Jump**, rocketing them into the air as Sasuke used the **Fireball Jutsu** on the **Water Needles** dropping down from above them.

Sasuke and Sakura shot out of the **Water Needle Sphere**, high into the air, peppered with cuts from half-formed **Water Needles** that Sasuke had only managed to partially boil. 'It was an impressive idea,' Haku noted, 'but they won't be able to dodge my attacks while in the air.' With a flick of the wrist, Haku threw several needles at the appropriate False Killing points. The Genin wouldn't be able to dodge the needles mid air.

But, spotting the attack with his **Sharingan**, Sasuke pushed off from Sakura and shot the two of them off in opposite directions so that the needles passed harmlessly between them.

Still in mid-air, Sasuke threw several Shuriken and Haku, buying him and Sakura enough time to land and regroup. Sakura and Sasuke quickly flew back-to-back. Effectively, they were all back at stage one again.

Haku would admit, he could probably win the fight if he continued trading with the Genin like this. In their exchange, they were boosting their muscles and jumps with Chakra while he was just using his Base Speed. If they continued for another minute or two, they'd be out of chakra and his reserves would've hardly emptied at all.

But could Haku afford a minute or two? Zabuza had lost to Kakashi in the previous week and might lose again if Haku didn't help. Zabuza had trusted Haku to deal with Tazuna quickly. If he delayed much longer, Zabuza might die in his absence... He would have to use one of his aces to quickly disable the Genin.

Cold Chakra permeated the air as Haku activated his **Hidden Ninjutsu: Demonic Crystal Ice Mirrors**. In a circle around Sasuke and Sakura, **Ice Mirrors** formed up from the puddles on the ground and floated, suspended in air. Before the Genin could even react, the dome was complete and a Haku was occupying each of the mirrors.

It wasn't a small dome either. Comprised of over a hundred mirrors, you could easily fit a small house within its boundaries. The Ice Mirror Dome covered the entire width of the bridge and would probably take several seconds to escape. And by then, the Genin would surely experience its purpose.

Sasuke shared a look with Sakura and they came up with a plan. Dodging was out of the question with a Jutsu on this scale. It would be best to take a defensive position and hope the technique was non-lethal when activated.

Sure enough, the Ice Mirrors started glowing and suddenly, pain shot threw both Sakura and Sasuke's bodies as cuts started to rapidly appear through their clothes. It stopped after a second and left the two Genin a second to wallow in their pain. What was that? Not even Sasuke's first stage **Sharingan** could tell what exactly had happened. Thanks to their chainmail, they weren't cripplingly injured but they definitely couldn't take many more hits like that.

Sakura's mind was working overtime to deduce what exactly could have happened. One second, they where fine and the next, they were covered in cuts. Maybe Haku was using the Ice Mirrors to channel wind Chakra from all directions.

Ideally, when facing a wall of **Wind Chakra**, you should block with a **Earth Style Wall** of some sort. **Wind Chakra** was almost impossible to dodge, due to it's almost invisible quality and it's amazing speed. Thankfully, Wind Style didn't counter **Earth Style Jutsu** and could be mitigated fairly easily by them. Sadly, since they were standing on asphalt, **Earth Style Jutsu** wouldn't work even if they could use it. The only solution was to escape the **Ice Dome **before they were cut to ribbons.

Sasuke and Sakura ran for it.

The walls glowed again and before they could go five feet, they were blasted back, several more cuts appearing on their frames. Judging by the distance they could go before being pushed back, it was safe to say, escape was futile.

"Give up." A voice echoed around the mirrors. "Their is no way to escape my **Ice Mirrors**. Don't feel bad. Even some Jonin are threatened by this move. Stay still and I can make this quick."

In response, Sasuke threw a kunai at the voice. Like hell he was just going to roll over dead. He would fight and so would Sakura. They just had to survive long enough for Kakashi to kill Zabuza and then they'd be saved. He _wasn't_ going to die before killing that man!

But then Haku morphed out of a mirror and caught the kunai with his bare hand... And all confidence flew out the window. Haku could have killed ether of the Genin whenever he wanted. The only reason they weren't dead already was because Haku wanted to make their deaths painless. Sasuke and Sakura suddenly understood this and terror filled their mind. "You see the difference in our strength?" Haku questioned, "I can kill you at any time... but I have a bad trait of being too nice. Give up and maybe I can..."

Haku was cut off as several shuriken flew into him from the side. He dodged most of them, despite his bad position, but one lucky Shuriken managed to graze his mask and propel him out of his **Ice Mirror** for a second.

A **Smoke Bomb** suddenly went off inside the **Ice Mirrors **and as it cleared, It revealed a certain blond-haired Genin.

"Uzumaki Naruto at your service! Here I am, to save the day!" Naruto announced, VERY LOUDLY, "You know how the story goes! Things look bleak till the hero arrives, then!..."

"Shut up Dobe! Why did you come in here?! What sort of idiotic Ninja would walk right into the center of his enemy's Jutsu?!" Sasuke said, relieving some of tension he felt by yelling at the idiot. Though Naruto wasn't as strong as Sasuke or Sakura, it would have been _REALLY HELPFUL_ to have someone attack from outside the spheres. "What purpose could you possibly have to walk inside a Jutsu that's about to kill us?!"

"I'm here to save you!" Naruto grinned, as if that explained or justified everything. His attitude wanted to make Sasuke pull his hair out.

"IDIOT! You needed to attack from outside the sphere! You're _so_ stupid that you made the situation even WORSE!" Sasuke screamed, letting out all his anger and stress at their imminent death.

"What did_ I_ do... _I_ was just about to save you!" Naruto yelled in response.

Haku watched, mystified, as the Genin bantered in the face of sure death. This must be a true testimony to their amazing Leaf Style teamwork. Not even he and Zabuza could banter like that in the middle if a fight, despite how much Haku would have loved to. It had always been a secret dream of his to get into a argument like that with someone.

Finally, after almost forty seconds of top speed arguing, Sasuke ran out of steam.

"Forget it. Now that it's come to this, I'll just have to break the mirrors!" Sasuke said, angrily. A couple hand-signs later, the Jutsu was ready. He'd been practicing this in secret since last time.

The **Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu** was as large as any Sasuke had made and big enough to engulf several mirrors at once. The heat was enough to burn through plaster walls. It went on past the mirrors, losing a little power before finally dispelling outside.

The **Ice Mirrors** were a little melty but otherwise unharmed. And in front of the Genin's eyes, the dripping water re-solidified.

"You wont break my mirrors with that level of Jutsu." Haku said, stating the obvious.

Again, the mirrors glowed brightly before Team Seven was bombarded by a thousand cuts. Again, none of them hit anything significant, but the experience was extremely painful.

"Which one of them is you!" Naruto suddenly yelled at the Mirrors.

"Your eyes will never see the truth." Haku stated. "I can't be caught."

"Then I'll beat all of you up at once! **Shadow Clone Jutsu**!" and suddenly a dozen **Shadow Clones** ran off to punch the mirrors, kicking up water as they went.

But despite his excellent progress, out of the three Genin, Naruto was still, by far, the slowest. None of the shadow clones even made it three feet before they popped. Naruto himself rocketed back with several needles imbedded in his jumpsuit and a pale complexion on his face. At least he finally understood the gravity of the situation.

Sasuke, however, was more disturbed by the trails of displaced water. Wind Chakra, due to its cutting nature, wouldn't displace water but merely slice through it. In a way, it almost looked like Haku himself was moving between the mirrors at untraceably fast speeds.

Sasuke wasted a second wondering why Sakura hadn't seen it but then remembered... Just because she could move as fast as him in a **Light-Shunshin**, didn't mean her eyes could actually keep up. That was the weakness of the **Shunshin**. Even though it changed your speed, it didn't actually change your perception of time. It was impressive that Sakura could keep up with what was happening at all. Not to mention his advantage from the **Sharingan**.

On that train of thought, Haku moving between the mirrors didn't sound so unrealistic. Supposing he was granted a much slower perception of time while in a mirror, he could theoretically plan out his moves and **Shunshins** before he did them. And it could even be a **True** **Shunshin**, 'cause time would practically stop for him while in the ice.

Haku was talking: "I... Find it hard to accept the full Shinobi philosophy. I can't help but hesitate to kill you. However, since you three are my enemies, I'll have kill my heart and become a true Shinobi. This bridge is a fork in our destinies... and our dreams and futures, balance on a knife edge, here. I have my own dreams as you have yours.

"Please try not to resent me, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to protect the one I care about most... To fight, kill and die to achieve that person's dreams. Doing that is my own dream. To that end, I'll become a true Shinobi and kill you."

And the odd strength of empathetic understanding flowed threw Team Seven. No longer was it a battle of Jutsu and Speed. It had transformed into a battle of wills as the Genin smiled in recognition of Haku, the tragically soft but talented Shinobi.

* * *

I decided to end it here because of how long it took to write.

Like my explanation of the **Demonic Crystal Ice Mirrors**? Some people criticize the Jutsu for being impossible in-universe. I'll try to do that with all Jutsu eventually.

And yes, the dome is bigger than in Canon. It's as much of a weakness as a strength. Made to more easily catch Super-Fast Jonin within but more susceptible to Midflight interception.

Empathy: True Spiritual Energy reacting with each other True Spiritual Energy to expand. That, plus group mentality, makes Sakura+Sasuke stronger than just Sasuke or Sakura or even the sum of their strengths.


	8. Team 7 vs Haku (part 2)

I don't own Naruto. This is a fanfiction. Lots of people make these.

* * *

Haku's mirrors glowed and again Team Seven was covered in a thousand cuts. They were being killed by inches. Slowly and surely strangled to death by the overwhelming pain they were experiencing. They had recently passed the precipice of what a civilian could realistically handle. As Shinobi, they gone threw some basic training for pain resistance, but as twelve to thirteen year old children, their thoughts were clouded by their reflex to call for their mothers. It would have been even stronger if not for their tragic orphan backgrounds. Perhaps that's why Sakura had collapsed, mumbling to herself on the floor.

Sasuke struggled back to a standing position. His eyes were tracing the mirrors for some sign of the real Haku, but even with the **Sharingan**, the masked ninja was hard to spot. It seemed that Haku constantly rocketed between the mirrors even when he wasn't attacking. It was at a slower rate, carful to avoid going near the Genin, but it was still enough to evade Sasuke's eyes. Not to mention, when he wasn't in a mirror, he used a **Basic Clone Technique** to disguise his absence.

Realistically, Haku would be most venerable during his attack.

'What we need to do, is record Haku's attack pattern with my **Sharingan**,' Sasuke thought, 'then set a trap for him in a place we know he'll **Shunshin** through. That'll be the only way to touch him. If I see his attack pattern, just a couple more times, then I'll have a basic idea of how he moves. The question is... How do we make him attack us in a safe way?'

Then Naruto recovered his confidence.

"I'm not going to be afraid just because I failed once! I'll to it as many times as it takes!" Naruto yelled in a determined and very_ loud_ voice. "**Shadow Clone Jutsu**!"

And another dozen **Shadow Clones** popped into existence jumping into the air, aiming their fists at the mirrors.

And Sasuke grinned and splashed water in the air before entering a defensive position.

And suddenly, all of the **Shadow Clones** swiftly popped out and the real Naruto flew backward in pain. Around the air were several pathways of displaced water for Sasuke to memorize, but like he predicted, there were too many to memorize in one go. He'd need to see the pattern a couple more times before he could even dream of the touching Masked Ninja. He might not have enough Chakra to do it.

'And now that Naruto's made so many **Shadow Clones**, he's definitely spent.' Sasuke thought in worry, 'I need to come up with a new way to stall and force Haku's hand...'

"One more try!" Naruto yelled, pulling his hands in a familiar cross seal.

'...Or maybe I don't...' Sasuke thought, sweat dropping. 'Kakashi wasn't kidding about how much Chakra Naruto has... there's no way I could make that many **Shadow Clones**, even while empathizing with Sakura...'

"Don't you see it's useless?!" Haku questioned as he blurred between the mirrors, taking out all of Naruto's clones in an instant, before continuing his assault on Sasuke and Sakura. By luck or by design, they weren't leaving any of their False Death points open. Not only that, but the two boys seemed to have unusually high pain thresholds. Most Genin would act like Sakura when in this position, but Sasuke and Naruto were still standing and fighting back. Haku worried. If they didn't cave soon, he'd have to do something excessive.

Sasuke had, again, splashed some water up at just the right time to mark Haku's movements. The movements were becoming clear. Infact, as Sasuke looked He found a Small spot That Haku passed through a total of seven times in his last attack.

A weakness?

'A Jutsu this strong must be riddled with weaknesses if someone our age could learn it.' Sasuke thought. He didn't have much Chakra left due to his continuous use of the **Sharingan **and the pain from the needles was starting to cloud his mind. 'This might be my last real chance... It could be a trap, but we're out of options. I'll aim at that spot the next time he attacks.'

Haku was worried.

'Its been a minute...' Haku thought. 'And I'm already bellow half of my Chakra. I need to end this quickly and efficiently or I'll be no help to Zabuza's fight. I hoped they'd have surrendered by now... I'll aim for the joints. Breaking some tendons wont kill them, but they wont be able to move for a while. I could also save more Chakra if I **Shunshin** slower. They wont have the speed to spot me anyway, so I don't need to use my best on them.'

Naruto was starting to get worried. His greatest Jutsu had failed a total of three times, all in identical ways, Saukra was on the floor quivering and Sasuke was looking around the dome as if desperately trying to spot something.

And there was pain, but pain had never really worried Naruto.

The stark reality was slowly hitting him: at least one of them would die here.

'I hope its not Sakura' Naruto thought, looking at the quivering girl. 'Yea... I cant give up yet! Sakura's life is on the line! I need to do the best I can to protect her!' "**Shadow Clone Jutsu**!"

And again, a dozen Narutos threw themselves at the mirrors.

And Sasuke flew through the hand seals for the **Fireball**. This was important. He had to get the timing right or they would all definitely die. By aiming a **Fireball** at such a well traveled space, Haku would be forced to fly through it multiple times. This was the Chance!

"**Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu**"

And Haku saw the **Fireball**, blocking his path to the next mirror.

The plan really was exceptionally clever... finding a hole in his attack pattern and then exploiting it. Was that the true power of the **Sharingan**? It was certainly impressive, something that could substitute for so much experience. Sadly, Sasuke had still underestimated him.

Within the Ice Dome, Haku could turn abruptly, mid air. He could do a complete 180 when confronted with a **Fireball** and thus completely avoid it. Not only that, but Haku was perfectly capable creating a different Attack Pattern mid flight. Their was a reason why this Jutsu could defeat Jōnin.

Sasuke watched in horror as, again, the Narutos started popping into smoke. The **Fireball** had done nothing. Haku had seen right through it and changed his Attack Pattern again. Frankly, Sasuke doubted even Kakashi would win this fight. How could you combat somebody so quick? This was all incredibly hopeless.

But as Sasuke looked, he could making out faint blurs of motion with his **Sharingan**. Haku was slowing down. Maybe he was running out of Chakra. Whatever the case, Sasuke still had a chance.

Using his best **Shunshin** along with the **Sharingan**, Sasuke just managed to make out Haku's attacks on him and then partially dodge most of them. At the barest glimmer from a nearby mirror, he would do a **Chakra Enhanced Jump** to the side and feel the sting of Haku's needles, no less than an inch off target. It was a near thing, but Sasuke remained standing after Haku's attack.

Naruto flew back after Haku's assault, but this time he couldn't get up. Something was wrong with his limbs. He would have panicked if he hadn't noticed Sasuke, still standing. The **Sharingan** on one of his eyes had gained a tomoe.

'This is good...' Sasuke told himself. 'Everything hurts, but you still might win in a battle of attrition. Haku's attacks are now visible. Your **Sharingan** can finally track them. You just need to survive the next onslaught. What was he aiming for again? Probably your tendons. Just guard those and you'll probably be fine.'

Haku almost sighed in relief as Sasuke finally changed his stance. He was worried when Sasuke had started dodging his attacks and for a moment it had looked like he'd have to attack a vital point to put the boy down. Now though, by protecting his tendons, Sasuke had finally left his False Death points unguarded. With a flick of his hand, Haku threw two Senbon needles into Sasuke's Neck from a blind spot. Sasuke didn't even see them coming.

To Sakura and Naruto, who were watching from the ground, Sasuke had suddenly stiffened and collapsed as if petrified. Naruto quickly started crawling over to him to see if he was alright but Sakura was close enough to see the needles sticking threw Sasuke's neck.

Before she knew what was happening, Sakura was up and running at the nearest mirror with all her **Shunshin** enhanced speed. Her inner mind didn't care about the pain. Sasuke had just been killed. She had to do _something_.

Sakura found herself intercepted by multiple needles slamming into her arms and chest, but she pushed on. They must have missed whatever points they were aimed at, just from the shear speed Sakura was running. They had hardly inconvinced her advance.

Chakra to the bottom of her feet gave Sakura extra traction, so when Haku appeared directly in front of her for a roundhouse kick, Sakura didn't even slow down... despite her now broken ribs. Getting distracted by Haku himself would delay her from the true trarget: the **Ice Mirrors**. And as Sakura neared the first one, she cocked her fist back. If she was trapped in the mirrors, she'd die anyway. This was the chance for some vengeance.

Sakura's fist slammed into one of Haku's many dozen **Ice Mirrors**, giving the mirror a small crack down the middle. The power of the blow caused Sakura's hand to bleed, but within a second the mirror had already repaired itself. Before she could properly respond, Sakura was covered in Senbon Needles sticking out of every non-vital point imaginable. Having her touch one of his mirrors had made Haku paranoid. Haku slid Sakura's porcupine-like body back to the center of the mirrors and to a very wide eyed Naruto. (cue: sadness and sorrow theme)

"Sasuke... Sakura... Your alive right? Your both still alive... RIGHT?!" Naruto panicked. Looking at the two bodies. Sasuke didn't answer at all, but Sakura managed a pained cough in response. Naruto was immediately cradling her. "Sakura! Don't give up! It definitely going to be fine!... I loved you. I really love you! so don't go!" Naruto want to rip himself apart. "Don't leave me alone! Its going to be fine..."

Naruto cut himself off as Sakura pulled herself up and stared into his eyes. She was crying in such a fragile way.

With the last of her strength, Sakura started speaking. "Sasuke... I really wanted to... I thought the world would be nice and I'd... I never realized until today how little Sasuke means to me. Naruto... Be strong. I don't want you to... Don't follow me and Sasuke. Just please... don't die. I wouldn't be able to... If you died as well..."

Naruto went silent as Sakura went limp in his arms. His face was blank. He didn't want to accept reality. He couldn't accept reality. Not this reality. Not one without Sasuke. Definitely not one without Sakura. Naruto mind went blank as it tried to heal itself. memories of his time in team seven flashed before his eyes. It was the happiest time of his life. Why did it have to end like this?

Without conscious thought, tears welled up in Narutos eyes, but he was too distracted to notice. How could something like this happen? Shaking slightly, Naruto pulled Sakura up to his ear and listened as her heartbeats faded. When they finally were no more, Naruto carefully set her down next to Sasuke.

"They..."Haku remarked, from inside a mirror, "...to protect those dear to them, would to things they knew were fatal. They were both Shinobi worthy of respect.

"Is this been the first time you've faced a friends death? Sadly, this is the way of the Shinobi. There is nothing we can do..." (sadness and sorrow: end.)

"Give up." Haku said, "Certainly now you see how useless..."

"Shut up..." Naruto said, in a voice husky from crying. "At very least, I'm going to grant Sakura's last request."

Steam started rising from the floor around Naruto, the water around him evaporating in his presence. A large and growing Chakra was sensed in the small boy as Haku subconsciously held out a Senbon to block.

"I wont forgive you." Naruto said from the center of the steam.

Then the chakra became visible.

It was red.

It was literally ripping pieces of the ground apart.

In the middle of it's swirling vortex, Naruto shook as if trying to snap his own muscles.

He looked up at the mirrors with red eyes and murder on his face.

There was no happiness. There was no good or evil.

There was only anger.

**"I'm going to kill you!"** Naruto roared.

As he watched, The Needles Haku had previously stuck on Naruto's chest popped out and fell to the ground. Naruto's wounds were healing themselves.

A twitch of Naruto's muscles was all the notice Haku needed to know he was coming.

He was ALOT faster then before.

He was even faster than Sakura was.

Haku, now thoroughly scared, threw his senbon at Naruto's vital points. To his shock, Naruto deflected them by Roaring. Haku's senbon were reinforced by chakra and could often slide right through **Wind Jutsu**. To be blocked by a roar was jarring.

Before Naruto could break his **Ice Mirror**, Haku teleported to one at the opposite side of the dome. The amounts of Chakra the kid was leaking was ridiculous.

He might have still been moving at only Chūnin Level speed, but Naruto was broadcasting so much raw, untrained **Killing Intent** that Haku was genuinely scared to get close.

The technique Naruto was using clearly didn't leave you fully conscious since Naruto seemed confused when Haku disappeared.

Zipping through his mirrors, Haku used his serious and still overwhelming speed advantage to throw a barrage of Senbon at Naruto from multiple locations. Not all of them hit vital spots, but many of them did. Chakra or not, Something like that was always instantly lethal.

Naruto roared again, and the needles all flew out of him, as if propelled from a force in the center of Naruto's being. Was the roar itself propelling the needles or was it something else that the roar signaled? The Chakra washed over the mirrors and before the Haku knew it, Naruto was in front of him, punching his **Ice Mirror** to Ice Shards, displaying incredible strength.

Seeing a vulnerable spot, Haku dove at Naruto's back from one of the **Ice Shards** but the shear Chakra Naruto was letting off was interrupting his **Shunshin** and Naruto spiraled away to avoid him.

Before Haku could reach another mirror, Naruto grabbed onto his arm. Haku was soon washed up in obscene amounts of **Killing Intent**, incredibly off frequency, yet still potent enough to paralyze the muscles on his arm and put a heavy fog on his mind.

With no small amount of effort, Haku forced his remaining hand into a basic seal to reinforce his chakra in defense. The move was futile, but it was enough to spot the punch thrown at him and, through reflex, dodge.

Their was another problem.

There was so much raw Chakra in the air that it was starting to erode Haku's **Demonic Crystal Ice Mirrors**.

Haku needed to do something.

Now Naruto was pulling Haku in. The chakra was so potent and malicious that Haku found himself almost completely parallelized. It was breaking his mirrors, it was breaking the ground...

It was breaking his fake Anbu Mask.

And as the shattered Mask fell to the floor, the malicious chakra receded.

"You... from the forest..." Naruto started, bile rising to his throat. "You told me about precious people... Why?"

"Why Stop?" Haku questioned in return. "I killed your dear friends. Why would you spare me?"

"I don't... I cant..." Naruto tried to say. "Damn it! I cant! You were nice! I... Maby I don't have what it takes to become a Shinobi after all but why do I have to kill you? How can I kill you?... I want to kill you... I really want to avenge my friends... but..."

Naruto was interrupted by the shattering of the remaining **Ice Mirrors**. Haku had suddenly disappeared.

He'd heard the **Lightning Blade**.

* * *

Good chapter?

I'm sorry this is a day late. I tried to finish it on time, but I couldn't write this the way I wanted to convey it.

Did I do Sakura justice?

Also, should I do Kakashi vs Zabuza?

It could be informative, but it might also be a little disenchanting to see the power difference. Team 7 finally feels strong.

Please comment.


End file.
